Yes! That that is me over there on the right. This was from a TheatreWorks production of Peter Pan.)
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The photo on the left is a couple of years old. The vicissitudes of Internet politics and life at startups have left me with a bit more gray around the edges. | ||
| Some people have said "Karl is a crock". And I'm here to say that they
are right... sort of... Yes! That that is me over there on the right. This was from a TheatreWorks production of Peter Pan.) |
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Yes, I do have a past. I don't remember it all, but here are some of the high (and low) points:
I'm once again doing a startup - and one again it will be related to tools that folks need to keep networks running and tools needed by implementers to test their code. So far it's in its infancy - I don't even have a company name yet.
I've been named a Henry C. Yuen Fellow of Law and Technology at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) and Loyola Law School. Let's just say that I'm more than a little pleased by this. You can read one of my talks entitled Why Louis XIV Would Have Loved The Internet. Or check out the my various other random writings.
I won a seat on the ICANN Board of Directors in what was perhaps the first Internet election. This is quite an experience! You can read more about it here.
I've been trying to distill my thoughts about Governance of the Internet into its pure essence. The result is what I call "The First Law of the Internet":
Every person shall be free to use the Internet in any way that is privately beneficial without being publicly detrimental.
The burden of demonstrating public detriment shall be on those who wish to prevent the private use.
Such a demonstration shall require clear and convincing evidence of public detriment.
The public detriment must be of such degree and extent as to justify the suppression of the private activity.
I've recently concluded yet another startup cycle - it was very exciting. We started out life as Precept Software but through a process of acquisition we ended up as part of Cisco Systems. I worked on networking and multimedia for several years but I eventually moved into the Advanced Internet Architectures group in Cisco's Office of the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) where I did research with the goal of making it easier and less expensive for us to run our networks.
I've been associated with "the Internet" since the early days. I have a photograph (warning, it's 240K bytes) taken on New Year's Eve
1974 showing a black board containing some of the early ideas that eventually became TCP
and IP.
I consider myself intimately versed in the Internet and its technology
- I've been involved with the development of Internet technology for nearly
three decades and have been active in the IETF for nearly a decade and a
half. I've been involved with a fair number of standards and have done
of implementations of everything from DNS to RTP/RTCP, from
TRACEROUTE to MTRACE, and from RSVP to SNMP. (And many more - I won't
even mention the NetBIOS over TCP diversion.)
Over the last decade I have increasingly come to believe that we need to
evolve away from the pure end-to-end principle of the Internet and evolve to
a mode in which end-to-end ideas are cross-checked against parallel systems
with a more synoptic perspective. That's a lot of high-sounding words
to describe the simple concept of retaining the basic concepts of local
autonomy and "dumb network" notions intrinsic in the end-to-end
principle but adding to that the concept of area and global management
mechanisms that make their more broad-based point of view available as
advice to the distinct elements - the routers - of the Internet.
Despite appearances, I did receive an education at the hands of the public authorities.
Rumor has it that I did graduate from University of California, Berkeley.
I know the diploma is around
here someplace.
And I also received my degree (JD cum laude) from Loyola (Los Angeles) in
1978 and passed the California Bar the same year.
As you've probably noticed, I'm particularly interested in the policy issues surrounding the Internet. I helped form the Boston Working Group (BWG). And I've been trying to write up some notes on this as a series of notes entitled "As the CaveBear Growls".
I've been working with the show network at Interop (now known as "Networld+Interop") ever since 1988. It's an incredible opportunity to work with the not only the latest technology but also to work with an amazing crew of people whose talents never fail to amaze and whose friendship never fails.
I've been served up on an audio platter as a Geek of the Week, on KQED Forum, CNN Financial News, and elsewhere.
I'm not just involved in networking technology - For some years, I worked in Southern California on secure operating systems and secure networks. I had the honor to design and build the very first B level secure OS.
After a few years of wandering, romance, and marriage I ended up in San Francisco doing some really practical work keeping networks alive, day and night, for a rather large bank. This sort of thing really gives one a new perspective about what real network management is all about.
Around 1986 I founded Epilogue Technology Corporation. John Romkey and Dave Bridgham came out to California to work with me. (Wow, was I flattered!!) John wrote a router one weekend. Since I consider myself a pretty good hacker, I tried to write SNMP in a weekend. It took me three weeks, but overall it is was a rather nice piece of code. That SNMP engine is, I believe, the most widely deployed SNMP in the universe.
In 1991 I formed Empirical Tools and Technologies Corporation, where I had a chance to code up some ideas I'd been thinking about for a few years. The result is a product called "Dr. Watson, the Network Detective's Assistant". (199K bytes) In my humble, and clearly unbiased opinion, it is the single most useful tool for the installation and troubleshooting of TCP/IP networks. You are welcome to download a copy.
In 1995 I married Chris Wellens. One could not ask for a better friend or wife. She also has her own company - InterWorking Labs - http://www.iwl.com/
Yes, I am a lawyer. I graduated in 1978 from Loyola of Los Angeles with a J.D. (cum laude) and am an active member of the California State Bar. I have also been admitted to practice before the Federal Courts. Click here to see one of those expensive pieces of paper.
I believe that Punched Paper Tape is the medium of the future. (What other medium weighs less the more data you put on it?) OK, you win, punched cards.
I believe that the Internet should be governed by individuals, not by corporations. I believe that domain name holders deserve to hold and use their names in peace and, except in cases of actual infringement, not be harassed by those who hold trademarks. Are these radical thoughts? They seem to be.
I strongly believe that SNMP is not network management. SNMP is a useful access method, but it certainly shouldn't be confused with "the real thing." Take a look at Towards Useful Network Management and delegation protocols.
Interop -- I've spent an enormous amount of time designing, building, operating, troubleshooting, and dismantling the various show networks for the Interop trade shows. It's a lot of work, but it is a nice way to work with good, smart people and get down-and-dirty with interesting technologies. In the recent years, the show has changed so that vendors vend - with enormous amounts of hype - and the original goal of doing interoperability testing between vendors has tended to occur only in the so called "Interop Labs" or "iLabs".
And if you remember the doubleheader with the SP 2472 and SP 4449, then the following might be of interest. All of these were taken one morning near Aromas, California.
You might want to visit The California Trolley and Railroad Corporation
Much of my life is spent in dark rooms. Voluntarily! I work with TheatreWorks, a Palo Alto based theatre company. You should come see one of the shows! Click here to see a photograph me and the rest of the folks for a show we did at Christmas 1993.
Check out the CaveBear Home Page or our Site Directory.
Updated February 05, 2002
