Mike,
Nice paper, but I think you're seriously off on the recompete of the NIC.
It was more like 1992 rather than '88 as you write. Given the way the
Internet changes character each year, that was quite a difference.
Note one parallel with the current DNS fee debate: during the period
(roughly) 1987 to 1993, the NSFnet EDU community depended on a NIC that was
accountable to the DoD. There were examples of friction that resulted, but
things were mostly quite amacable.
Now the private-sector COM/ORG community is having to put up with
vestigial accountability structure oriented around the NSF. There will be
some friction, and there will be some patience, and there will be progress.
-- Guy