Subject: Re: IAB comments on Green Paper

From: Marc Horowitz <[email-masked]>
Date: 23 Feb 1998 13:32:11 -0500

"Perry E. Metzger" <[email-masked]> writes:

>> Might I ask who appointed Ira Magaziner God in the first place?

Clinton did.  The voters of the US made Clinton President, and he
apparently misread the Fine Print.

>> So far as I know, U.S. law doesn't grant Mr. Magaziner plenipotentiary
>> powers to dictate *anything* to the IETF. He can, of course, pretend
>> that he can do so to his hearts content, but I don't see anything in
>> the U.S. legal system that actually gives him the right to *do*
>> anything.

If I were you, I would be worried that Mr. Magaziner will pull an
Executive Order out of his pocket.  That's his legal trump card.

IMNSHO, Noel is right.  Move the sandbox to more friendly
jurisdiction.

		Marc

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From: Karl Auerbach <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 1998 10:58:08 -0800 (PST)

> Executive Order out of his pocket.  That's his legal trump card.

Please don't think that the President can just issue Executive Orders and
make things happen.

The President in the US has only rather limited intrinsic powers (mainly
military and international relations.)  Other powers come from statutes
passed by Congress in which various jobs are assigned to the President or
one of the various agencies.

As an example of the limits on Executive Orders, note that the recent
"Patients Bill of Rights" order was limited to only those things the
President could reach under his delegated powers -- medical care systems
which involve Federal people or money.

It's important to not let ourselves assign to governmental authorities
more power than they actually have. That path creates kings.

I, for one, do not believe that the people behind the Proposal are acting
in bad faith.  (I do believe that they are undereducated about the
issues and the technology.)

It is extremely that people who have opinions on these matters, or who
have good tutorial materials to help educate NTIA and other
government-critters, submit cogent materials to the NTIA.

(I'm expecting that after NTIA we will have another go-around or three
before Congress.  Then it'll go international.) 

		--karl--

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From: "Perry E. Metzger" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 1998 15:26:15 -0500

> Executive Order out of his pocket.  That's his legal trump card.

Again, executive orders may only be made under circumstances
prescribed by law. There is no legal authority here for any action by
the administration. The only power they have here is that we're scared
and have decided to act as though they had such power.

Perhaps Congress might choose to give them such power in the future,
but they have not yet seen fit to do so. I'm sure members of the
administration like Mr. Magaziner frequently forget that they are
bound to follow the law and mistake themselves *for* the law, but we
are still governed by laws, not men.

Perry