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Article: The death of an icon.(Internet pioneer Jon Postel dies)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- October 24, 1998
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE Internet is an anarchic place, and anarchists brook no leaders. But if they did, most "netizens" who consider such matters would probably have acknowledged Jon Postel, who died on October 16th from complications following heart surgery, as the true ruler of Cyberia.
Dr Postel's death was untimely for more reasons than his relative youth (he was 55). As head of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), in Los Angeles, he was working hard to find a solution to the arcane but fundamental question of who should control the electronic addresses on which the Internet depends.
Until now, that job has been done by the IANA-essentially a bunch of ...