iotae.net

Most geeks know that many of the key ideas behind the internet were hashed out in RFC (request-for-comment) documents. I occasionally found myself consulting the RFC for MIME or HTTP. And most slashdot readers are aware of a few of the goofy entries, like A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers, or Binary Lexical Octet Ad-hoc Transport, a piece of topical satire reminiscent of A Modest Proposal.
However, up until now I have not actually looked at the archive of RFCs. I had not realized how many of the 3400 RFCs are archived correspondents or incredible intricate jokes. I did not know that there was an Infinite Monkey Protocol Suite, or that one could deliver Electricity over IP. I had used foo for years without ever understanding its etymology. I used the Telnet Randomly-Lose Option, and never realized it. It’s like The Onion for networking geeks. And you get poetry by Vint Cerf and Bob Metcalfe.
Speaking of The Onion, this week’s article RIAA Sues Radio Stations For Giving Away Free Music is perfect:

“In some instances, these stations actually have the nerve to let the caller ‘dedicate’ his act of thievery to a friend or lover. Could you imagine a bank letting somebody rob its vaults and then allowing the thief to thank his girlfriend Tricia and the whole gang down at Bumpy’s?”

That reminds me of the extreme 1982 Jack Valenti testimony that was posted online a few months ago.

Now, the question comes, well, all right, what is wrong with the VCR. One of the Japanese lobbyists, Mr. Ferris, has said that the VCR — well, if I am saying something wrong, forgive me. I don’t know. He certainly is not MGM’s lobbyist. That is for sure. He has said that the VCR is the greatest friend that the American film producer ever had.
I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.

People entrenched in existing industries fears technological change. And not without good reason. Even if the MPAA and the RIAA misjudged the VCR, DAT, and Diamond Rio, new technologies are arriving quickly, and it only takes one to put them out of business. (Of course this is a poor justification for anyone to act on their complaints, but that is another matter.) This is also directly relevant to the strategy case I am supposed to be working on right now. Which probably has something do so with why I suddenly have time to write this.