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Karl George Auerbach (born December 27, 1949 in
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
) is a California attorney and internet protocol engineer who made many significant contributions to the development of the Internet, Internet governance and the commercialization of many internet technologies. Mr. Auerbach is also known for suing the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (
ICANN The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is an American multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces ...
)—of which he was an elected board member—for refusing to share corporate records in 2002. ICANN controls the assignment of
domain names A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...
and
IP addresses An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.. Updated by . An IP address serves two main functions: network interface identi ...
.


Profile

Auerbach is Chief Technology Officer at InterWorking Labs, in
Scotts Valley, California Scotts Valley is a small city in Santa Cruz County, California, United States, about thirty miles (48 km) south of downtown San Jose and six miles (10 km) north of the city of Santa Cruz, in the upland slope of the Santa Cruz Mounta ...
, which creates network testing and emulation products. Auerbach has been involved in Internet design since the early 1970s. He is a member of the Intellectual Property section of the California State Bar; on the board of directors of the
Open Voting Consortium The Open Voting Consortium (OVC) is a non-profit advocacy group dedicated to the development, maintenance, and delivery of trustable and open voting systems for use in public elections. OVC was founded in December 12, 2003 by Alan Dechert, Dr. Arth ...
; a co-founder of the Boston Working Group, a public policy organization devoted to democratic Internet governance; and a member of the volunteer
Internet Engineering Task Force The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a standards organization for the Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster or requirements and a ...
(IETF), which develops and promotes Internet standards such as
TCP/IP The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the set of communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suit ...
. Auerbach has testified about Internet protocols and policies before Congress on several occasions. In 2001, Auerbach was the
Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
-
Loyola Law School Loyola Law School is the law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Catholic university in Los Angeles, California. Loyola was established in 1920. Academics Degrees offered include the Juris Doctor (JD); Master of Science in Legal ...
Program for Law & Technology Yuen Fellow, speaking on the importance of internet governance. Mr. Auerbach was a founder of Epilogue Technology Corporation and developed the first commercial SNMP engine that was widely licensed and incorporated in network products. Epilogue was acquired by Integrated Systems. Mr. Auerbach founded Empirical Tools and Technologies, Inc. (ET&T), also known as Empirical Tools and Toys or ETNT, in 1991 which released Dr. Watson, the Network Detective's Assistant (DWTNDA), a low cost network analysis and diagnostic tool, in 1993. DWTNDA was intended to be an internet "buttset" ( Lineman's handset). DWTNDA was intended to be a very portable, fast-to-start, fast-to-use unit to do network troubleshooting. DWTNDA received the LAN magazine Products of the Year award in 1994. ET&T was acquired. Mr. Auerbach was the editor of RFC 1001/1002, IETF full Internet Standards to provide a NetBIOS service over TCP. In keeping with the practices of the time, Mr. Auerbach listed himself as the editor, not the author, preferring to give recognition to all the contributors. In the March 1995 issue of ''LAN Magazine'' Mr. Auerbach wrote an article about network testing titled "Trouble-Busters: Does your TCP/IP stand for trouble on your network? Here are some insider tricks for diagnosing and repairing TCP/IP Networks." In 1995, Auerbach became the principal software engineer and first paid employee at Precept Software, which created
IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded medi ...
and was acquired by Cisco Systems in 1998. At Cisco, Auerbach was a member of the Advanced Internet Architectures group/Chief Strategy Office until mid-2001, when he left Cisco to join InterWorking Labs. In 2011, Auerbach proposed an amendment to the United States Constitution that would eliminate the recognition of corporations and other group entities as persons or citizens. The text reads as follows: "Corporate and other aggregate forms of organization are neither Persons nor Citizens under this Constitution and shall have neither protections, rights, nor legal standing under this Constitution. This Amendment shall not be construed to deny or disparage the power of Congress or the Several States to enact legislation that defines rights, powers, limitations, liabilities, and standing of such corporate and other aggregate forms of organization."


Early life

Auerbach attended Van Nuys High School, in Southern California; graduated from
UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
in 1971; and completed his
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
from
Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit and Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near P ...
, in Los Angeles in 1978. He joined the California State Bar in 1978. In 1995, he and Chris Wellens married.


ICANN Suit

In 2000, Auerbach was elected by a public vote to the Board of Directors of
ICANN The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is an American multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces ...
, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, as the At-Large Representative for North America. ICANN is a non-profit corporation responsible for Internet protocol (IP) addressing and the domain name system ( DNS), including approving new
generic top-level domains Generic top-level domains (gTLDs) are one of the categories of top-level domains (TLDs) maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet. A top-level domain is the last level of eve ...
such as .net and
.biz .biz is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for registration of domains to be used by businesses. The name is a phonetic spelling of the first syllable of ''business''. History The TLD ...
. In November, 2000, shortly after Auerbach's public election to the ICANN board of directors, he asked to see the non-profit's internal financial and other corporate records, which, under California law, he was entitled to see. ICANN initially resisted, then subsequently consented on condition that Auerbach agree, in writing, to extensive restrictions. Auerbach refused to agree to any restrictions, including limitations on what he could see, the right to copy documents, and non-disclosure. On March 18, 2002, after 10 months, Auerbach filed suit against ICANN in Los Angeles, with legal representation provided by the
Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet civ ...
. Auerbach argued that as a member of the board of directors of ICANN, he needed to see ICANN's records in order to make "informed and intelligent" decisions. On July 29, 2002,
Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...
Judge Dzintra Janavs ordered ICANN to open its records to Auerbach by August 9, and stated that ICANN board members could not be denied their right under California law to review financial records, travel logs, legal contracts and other internal documents.


See also

*
Norbert Wiener Award for Social and Professional Responsibility The Norbert Wiener Award for Social and Professional Responsibility was established in 1987 in honor of Norbert Wiener to recognize contributions by computer professionals to socially responsible use of computers. It was awarded annually by CPSR, ...


References


External links


OReilly Account of ICANN suit

Open Voting Consortium website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Auerbach, Karl 1949 births Living people University of California, Berkeley alumni Loyola Law School alumni California lawyers People from Santa Cruz, California American chief technology officers