Connectivity 2002 – Geek Woodstock?

I’m about to leave for Connectivity 2002, a conference technically only a few miles from my house but a major commute in terms of actual travel hours. It’s three days of confabulation about how The Bad Guys are trying to centralize control of the Internet, violating the end-to-end principle (about which see David Reed and David Isenberg and maybe even “The Paradox of the Best Network” that Isenberg and I wrote to try to boil the situation down a bit.).

I’m going because I recognize that it’s a big stinking problem but I expect the conference to be over my head. Actually, there’s no “but” about it: being in over my head is the best part. This is a topic about which I am smart only by association: I don’t understand it but I am fortunate enough to know people who are freaking geniuses about it, starting with Isenberg and Reed.

The organizer, Daniel Berninger, bills Connectivity 2002 as a telecommunications Woodstock. So, let me tell you about Woodstock. The real Woodstock, you young whippersnappers. I went because I had made a plan with Nancy Weeks, on whom I had a major crush, to “meet her there,” thinking that I’d spot her across a field, wave my arm in recognition, and we’d trot off to a secluded nook by a waterfall as The Airplane played “White Rabbit.” I had just finished my freshman year and was, of course, a moron.

Instead, I spent 4 hours in a traffic jam, parked about 5 miles away, got a ride on the hood of a car that crawled for another couple of hours, and arrived just as Melanie was a couple of songs into her set. It was raining. I hadn’t eaten in hours. And, yes, you are talking to the only person who couldn’t score drugs at Woodstock. Not a puff, much less a tainted acid tab.

Two hours later, drug- and Nancy-free, I made my way back to my car, curled up in the back seat for a few hours, and drove back to Mom and Dad’s house. So you can see how much I am looking forward to the Telecommunications Woodstock. (Nancy, if you’re coming to the conference, I’ll meet you by the geeky-looking guy trying to tweak the settings of his wireless connection. That ought to narrow it down.)

Categories: Uncategorized dw