Jon Postel

{{Short description|American computer scientist and Internet pioneer (1943–1998)}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Jon Postel

| image = Jon Postel sitting in office (cropped).jpg

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1943|08|06}}

| birth_place = Altadena, California, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1998|10|16|1943|08|06}}

| death_place = Santa Monica, California, U.S.

| citizenship =

| ethnicity =

| fields = Computer science

| workplaces =

| education = University of California, Los Angeles (BS, MS, PhD)

| doctoral_advisor = Dave Farber

| academic_advisor =

| doctoral_students =

| notable_students =

| known_for = Request for Comment
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
Postel's Law

| prizes = Internet Hall of Fame Pioneer, Posthumous Recipient (2012), ACM SIGCOMM Award (1997),{{cite web|url=http://sigcomm.org/awards/sigcomm-awards/postel-and-pouzin-award-details|title=Postel and Pouzin: 1997 SIGCOMM Award Winners|access-date=February 22, 2022}} ITU Silver Medal (1998),{{cite web|url=https://www.itu.int/newsarchive/press_releases/1998/26.html|title=Jon Postel awarded ITU silver medal at INET '98 for his central role in the success story of the Internet|date=22 July 1998|access-date=February 22, 2022}} ISOC Jonathan B. Postel Service Award (1999, posthumous){{cite web|url=https://www.internetsociety.org/grants-and-awards/postel-service-award/ten-year-tribute-jon-postel/|title=A ten year tribute to Jon Postel: An Internet visionary|access-date=February 22, 2022}}

| author_abbrev_bot =

| author_abbrev_zoo =

| awards =

| religion =

| signature =

| footnotes =

}}

Jonathan Bruce Postel ({{IPAc-en|p|ə|ˈ|s|t|ɛ|l}}; August 6, 1943 – October 16, 1998) was an American computer scientist who made many significant contributions to the development of the Internet, particularly with respect to standards. He is known principally for being the Editor of the Request for Comment (RFC) document series, for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and for administering the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) until his death.

During his lifetime he was referred to as the "god of the Internet"{{cite news |title=Postel Disputes |newspaper=The Economist |date=8 February 1997 |volume=343 |issue=8453 |quote= God, at least in the West, is often represented as a man with a flowing beard and sandals... if the Net does have a god, he is probably Jon Postel, a man who matches that description to a T. Mr. Postel's claim to cyber-divinity, besides his appearance, is that he is the chairman and, in effect, the sole member of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, the organization that coordinates almost all Internet addresses.}}q:Jon Postel for his comprehensive influence; Postel himself noted that this "compliment" came with a barb, the suggestion that he should be replaced by a "professional," and responded with typical self-effacing matter-of-factness: "Of course, there isn’t any 'God of the Internet.' The Internet works because a lot of people cooperate to do things together."{{cite web |last1=Duhanic |first1=Mario |title=Thanks, Jon and John! About Gods and Knights. |url=https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/thanks-jon-john-gods-knights-mario-duhanic |date=8 February 2018}}

Career

Postel attended Van Nuys High School,{{cite book |last1=Hafner |first1=Katie |last2=Lyon |first2=Matthew |title=Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1996 |isbn=0-684-81201-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/wherewizardsstay00haf_vgj/page/137 137] |quote=Steve Crocker and Vint Cerf had been best friends since attending Van Nuys High School in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley.... While Cerf and Crocker were academic stars, Postel, who was twenty-five, had had a more checkered academic career. He had grown up in nearby Glendale and Sherman Oaks, and he too had attended Van Nuys High School, where his grades were mediocre. |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/wherewizardsstay00haf_vgj/page/137 }} and then UCLA where he earned his B.S. (1966) as well as his M.S. (1968) in Engineering. There he completed his Ph.D. in computer science in 1974, with Dave Farber as his thesis advisor.

File:Internet map in February 82.png

Postel started work at UCLA on 23 December 1969 as a Postgraduate Research Engineer (I) where he was involved in early work on the ARPANET. He was involved in the development of the Internet domain system and, at his instigation, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn developed a second set of protocols for handling data between networks, which is now known as Internet protocol suite.{{Cite book|title=On the Way to the Web: The Secret History of the Internet and Its Founders|last=Banks|first=Michael|publisher=Apress|year=2008|isbn=9781430208693|location=Berkeley, CA|pages=[https://archive.org/details/onwaytoweb00mich/page/76 76]|url=https://archive.org/details/onwaytoweb00mich/page/76}} Together with Cerf and Steve Crocker, Postel worked on implementing most of the ARPANET protocols.{{Cite book|title=Ruling the Root: Internet Governance and the Taming of Cyberspace|last=Mueller|first=Milton L.|publisher=MIT Press|year=2009|isbn=9780262263795|location=Cambridge, MA|pages=75}} Cerf would later become one of the principal designers of the TCP/IP standard, which works because of the sentence known as Postel's Law.{{Cite book|title=Building an Intelligence-Led Security Program|last=Liska|first=Allan|publisher=Syngress|year=2015|isbn=9780128021453|location=Waltham, MA|pages=1}}

Postel worked with ARPANET until 24 August 1973 when he left to join MITRE Corporation. He assisted with Network Information Center, which was being set up at SRI by Elizabeth Feinler. In March 1977, he joined the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California as a research scientist.{{cite web |title= USC Memorial Tribute for Jonathan B. Postel |date= November 5, 1998 |publisher= University of Southern California |url= http://www.usc.edu/webcast/archive/events/postel/ |access-date= April 8, 2011 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110521181650/http://www.usc.edu/webcast/archive/events/postel/ |archive-date= May 21, 2011 |df= mdy-all }}

Postel was the RFC Editor from 1969 until his death, and wrote and edited many important RFCs, including RFC 791, RFC 792 and RFC 793, which define the basic protocols of the Internet protocol suite, and RFC 2223, Instructions to RFC Authors. Between 1982 and 1984 Postel co-authored the RFCs which became the foundation of today's DNS (RFC 819, RFC 881, RFC 882 and RFC 920) which were joined in 1995 by RFC 1591 which he also co-wrote. In total, he wrote or co-authored more than 20 RFCs.{{cite web |title= Datatracker profile for Jon Postel |publisher= IETF |url= https://datatracker.ietf.org/person/postel@isi.edu }}

Postel served on the Internet Architecture Board and its predecessors for many years. He was the Director of the names and number assignment clearinghouse, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), from its inception. He was the first member of the Internet Society, and was on its Board of Trustees. He was the original and long-time .us Top-Level Domain administrator. He also managed the Los Nettos Network.

All of the above were part-time activities he assumed in conjunction with his primary position as Director of the Computer Networks Division, Division 7, of the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California.*{{cite web |title= Jon Postel Biography |date= June 5, 1997 |url= http://www.isi.edu/div7/people/postel.home/bio.html |access-date= April 8, 2011 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/19981206211527/http://www.isi.edu/div7/people/postel.home/bio.html |archive-date= December 6, 1998 |website= isi.edu }}

{{cite web|url=http://www.isi.edu/div7/|title=USC/ISI Computer Networks Division ("Div 7")|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050817221312/http://www.isi.edu/div7/|archive-date=August 17, 2005|website=isi.edu}}
{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010424122813/http://www.postel.org/remembrances/|title=Remembering Jonathan B. Postel|archive-date=April 24, 2001|url=http://www.postel.org/remembrances/|website=postel.org}}
{{cite web|url=http://www.isoc.org/postel/|title=In Memory of Jon Postel|publisher=Internet Society|website=isoc.org|access-date=August 1, 2003|archive-date=August 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814053702/http://www.isoc.org/postel/|url-status=dead}}
{{cite news |title= Jonathan B. Postel 1943–1998 |publisher= USC Trojan Family Magazine |date= Spring 1999 |last1= Calverley |first1= Bob |last2= Krieger |first2= Dianne |url= http://www.usc.edu/dept/pubrel/trojan_family/spring99/Postel/postel.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/19991023133344/https://www.usc.edu/dept/pubrel/trojan_family/spring99/Postel/postel.html |archive-date= October 23, 1999 |access-date= April 8, 2011 |website= usc.edu }}

=DNS Root Authority test, U.S. response=

File:Jon Postel (full frame).jpg

On January 28, 1998, Postel, as a test, emailed eight of the twelve operators of Internet's regional root nameservers on his own authority and instructed them to reconfigure their servers,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B88ZAgAAQBAJ&dq=jon+postel&pg=PT25|title=Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know|last1=Singer|first1=P. W.|last2=Friedman|first2=Allan|date=2013-12-04|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199364572|language=en}} changing the root zone server from then SAIC subsidiary Network Solutions' A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET (198.41.0.4) to IANA's DNSROOT.IANA.ORG (198.32.1.98). The operators complied with Postel's instructions, thus dividing control of Internet naming between the non-government operators with IANA and the 4 remaining U.S. Government roots at NASA, DoD, and BRL with NSI. Though usage of the Internet was not interrupted, Postel was threatened by US Presidential science advisor Ira Magaziner with the statement "You'll never work on the Internet again" and was ordered to end the test,

{{cite news |title=Taking the wrong root? |date=February 4, 1998 |first=Sandra |last=Gittlen |publisher=NetworkWorld.com |url=http://www.networkworld.com/news/0204postel.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308200824/http://www.networkworld.com/news/0204postel.html |archive-date=March 8, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}
{{cite news |title=Surprise IP address system test creates a stir |date=February 9, 1998 |first=Sandra |last=Gittlen |publisher=Network World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hBsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA14 }}
{{cite news |title=One Man's Attempt to Reroute Internet Traffic |date=February 9, 1998 |first=Kate |last=Gerwig |publisher=InternetWeek.com |url=http://www.internetwk.com/news/news0209-2.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005171457/http://www.internetwk.com/news/news0209-2.htm |archive-date=October 5, 2011 |df=mdy-all}}
{{cite news |title=It's time for ICANN to go |date=July 2, 2002 |first=Damien |last=Cave |work=Salon.com |url=http://www.salon.com/technology/feature/2002/07/02/gilmore/print.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722170621/http://www.salon.com/technology/feature/2002/07/02/gilmore/print.html |archive-date=July 22, 2011 |df=mdy-all}}
{{cite web |title=a comment on Gilmore: ICANN Must Go (good insights) |first=Dave |last=Farber |publisher=Interesting-People|date=July 2, 2002 |url=http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200207/msg00011.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525113933/http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200207/msg00011.html |archive-date=May 25, 2010 |df=mdy-all }} which he did.{{cite news|title=Internet reconfiguration turns out to be rogue test |last=Bridis |first=Ted (AP) |date=February 5, 1998 |newspaper=The Daily News (Kentucky) |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=q88aAAAAIBAJ&pg=2900,539368&dq=the+clinton+administration+said+wednesday+it+was+confident+a+researcher&hl=en}} Within a week, the US NTIA issued A proposal to improve technical management of Internet names and addresses, including changes to authority over the Internet DNS root zone,{{cite web|title=A proposal to improve technical management of Internet names and addresses. Discussion Draft 1/30/98 |publisher=NTIA.org |date=January 30, 1998 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980207224402/http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/dnsdrft.htm |archive-date=February 7, 1998 |url=http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/dnsdrft.htm |url-status=dead }} which ultimately, and controversially,{{cite web |title=Wrong turn in cyberspace: Using ICANN to route around the APA and the Constitution |first=A. Michael |last=Froomkin |author-link=Michael Froomkin |publisher= University of Miami School of Law |year=2000 |url=http://osaka.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/articles/icann-body.htm}} (cited 50 Duke L. J. 17 (2000)) increased U.S. control.{{cite web|title=Testing times for Net guardians |first=Kenneth |last=Cukier |date=February 16, 1998 |work=Communications Week International |url=http://www.totaltele.com/cwi/199/199news11.html |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990219094444/http://www.totaltele.com/cwi/199/199news11.html |archive-date=February 19, 1999 }}

Death

On October 16, 1998, Postel died of complications from heart surgery in Los Angeles. He was recovering from a surgery to replace a leaking heart valve.[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1998/10/18/jon-postel-internet-pioneer-dies-at-55-after-heart-surgery/75b75d28-95c1-4a6b-9a0b-2b7f08533fbc/ Jon Postel, Internet Pioneer, Dies at 55 after Heart Surgery]. Washington Post, 1998-10-18. Accessed 2016-09-09.

Legacy

The significance of Jon Postel's contributions to building the Internet, both technical and personal, were such that a memorial recollection of his life and his work forms part of the core technical literature sequence of the Internet in the form of [https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2468 RFC2468] "I Remember IANA", written by Vint Cerf.

The Postel Center at Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California, is named in his honor, as is the annual Postel Award. In 2012, Postel was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame.{{cite web |url=http://www.internethalloffame.org/inductees/year/2012 |title=2012 Inductees |publisher=Internet Hall of Fame |access-date=24 April 2012 |date=2012 |archive-date=December 13, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121213033309/http://internethalloffame.org/inductees/year/2012 |url-status=dead }} The Channel Islands' Domain Registry building was named after him in early 2016.{{cite web|url=https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/gg.html|title=Delegation Record for .GG|publisher=Internet Assigned Numbers Authority|website=www.iana.org|date=8 March 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/je.html|title=Delegation Record for .JE|publisher=Internet Assigned Numbers Authority|website=www.iana.org|date=8 March 2016}}

Another tribute, "Working with Jon: Tribute delivered at UCLA, October 30, 1998"

([https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2441 RFC2441]), was written by Danny Cohen.

Perhaps his most famous legacy is from [https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc760 RFC760], which includes a robustness principle often called Postel's law: "an implementation should be conservative in its sending behavior, and liberal in its receiving behavior" (reworded in RFC 1122 as "Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send").

The Jonathan B. Postel Service Award is an award named after Postel. The award has been presented most years since 1999 by the Internet Society to "honor a person who has made outstanding contributions in service to the data communications community." The first recipient of the award was Postel himself, posthumously.{{cite web | url = http://www.isoc.org/awards/postel/awards.shtml | title = Postel Service Award - Past awards | publisher = ISOC | accessdate = 2008-08-05 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20100107062034/http://www.isoc.org/awards/postel/awards.shtml | archivedate = 2010-01-07 }} The award was created by Vint Cerf as chairman of the Internet Society and announced in "I remember IANA" published as RFC 2468.{{cite web | url = http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2468 | author = Vint Cerf | author-link = Vint Cerf | title = I remember IANA | date = October 1998 | publisher = RFC 2468 | accessdate = 2008-08-05}}