[11061] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: What is an "Internet reseller"?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Matthew Kaufman)
Sat Mar 19 03:30:07 1994
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 1994 23:27:14 -0800
From: matthew@echo.com (Matthew Kaufman)
To: fair@apple.com, karl@mcs.com
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
If I send 1MB of email from a Unix account I buy from some provider,
or 1MB of email by forwarding stuff via UUCP up to a service provider,
or 1MB of email by opening the SMTP connection myself, if its going
to some other CIX-connected host it uses EXACTLY THE SAME AMOUNT OF
RESOURCES.
"IP is Special" is a MYTH. Except for some arbitrary, unfounded beliefs of
some people who, now that they have spent their $10k, want to pretend
otherwise, there is NO REASON to differentiate between "user who occasionally
calls a Unix host", "user who occasionally sends out stuff via UUCP" and
"user who occasionally dials in and uses SLIP"
They can all generate and receive bits which travel across the CIX router,
and as long as the connection is getting paid for, WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?
Once the CIX router and its support is paid for, the extra $10k per
"reseller" simply goes into Bill Washburn's pocket, as far as I can tell.
And simply MAKING UP reasons why more people ought to be required to
pay the $10k doesn't go any farther towards convincing me that its going
to a good cause.
-matthew
