Standards adoption shouldn't even be controversial, really. Fixing weights and measures has been government policy since time immemorial, as have street addresses, snail mail, and telephone. The idea that the internet should not involve the state is, honestly, pretty weird when you try comparing it to other stuff.
> The idea that the internet should not involve the state is, honestly, pretty weird when you try comparing it to other stuff.
The "inter" in internet implies that there is no single entity that administers it. It is a network of networks, based on cooperation.
Although I agree in principal that enforcing standards has been (and arguably should be) in the domain of government functions, I feel the principal of keeping the "inter" in "internet" is more important. I'd love to see an incentivized conversion to IPv6, but there are many other incentivized conversions that I would wholly oppose. Thus I would prefer not to see government intervention in internet protocols.
