[1041] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
re: Text of chron-nren
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Carl Malamud)
Mon Jul 22 19:48:51 1991
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 91 17:39:25 PST
From: carl@malamud.com (Carl Malamud)
To: com-priv@psi.com
Francis -
It seems that the article by Joe was well balanced and one of
the few pieces I've seen on the NREN in the general press. If
we really want to get this thing funded, we're going to need
lots more articles like this one.
As to the specific points you raised ....
The Internet is certainly a form of "anarchic democracy." Even
Vint Cerf would be the first to admit that there is no central
control and that the IAB plays at most an advisory role (although
one a very well respected advisory role).
As to the age of the Internet, the ARPAnet began in 1968. By
my reckoning, that makes it over twenty years old. Finally,
describing "a gigabit is a transmission rate of a billion bits
per second" may be useful to you, but I would venture a guess
that most of Joe's readers would not gain much by such a statement.
Overall, the piece was a well-balanced piece of reporting. It would
be a shame to have this list degenerate again into another batch of
shameful name-calling that we witnessed in the previous forest fire.
Carl Malamud
carl@malamud.com
