Fred Baker

Nominee Details

Name: Fred Baker
Position: Independent Consultant
Organization: NA
MANRS participant (Y/N): No

Biographical Information

I have been involved with Internet development since 2006, first in the workshop that became Network World plus Interop, and since 1989 in the IETF, ICANN, and as an early and continuing member of the Internet Society. My contribution to MANRS has been some paid work for the Internet Society, and mention in various talks. Although I spent 22 years employed by Cisco, I have no active vendor or network affiliation; in ICANN, I list myself as a board member of the Internet Systems Consortium, which operates F Root. I have served in a variety of capacities, including IETF Chair 1996-2001, ISOC Board Chair 2003-2006, chair of focus groups and working groups in the IETF, ICANN, and ITU, and the primary author of over sixty RFCs.

Nominee Statement

Consistent with the principles and mission statements of those organizations, I have spent much of my adult life enabling people to communicate better on the Internet. My observation during the events following September 11 2011 – when government approached the IETF asking to include Internet services into the US national critical infrastructure – and during the recent pandemic has been that the Internet has quietly supported education, government, and business in a variety of sectors. In many cases, people have been surprised by the fact that the Internet “just works” (which is unfair to its operators, but is the appearance they present). I presently observe that operational attacks and global politics have targeted infrastructure, and specifically Internet infrastructure. I’d like to help maintain the resilience and reliability of the network and service I have devoted much of my life to. To my mind, an important part of that is having reliable and verifiable data in routing, and making sure it is advertised and used, which is what MANRS is all about.

Nominated by: Simon Baroi (Fiber@Home Global Limited)