[11124] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: What is an "Internet reseller"?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sean Doran)
Tue Mar 22 06:04:20 1994
To: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 18 Mar 1994 23:27:14 PST."
<199403190727.XAA22208@echo.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 1994 21:55:39 -0800
From: Sean Doran <smd@cesium.clock.org>
In msg <199403190727.XAA22208@echo.com> matthew@echo.com (Matthew
Kaufman) writes:
| 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"
Sure there is. For one, the last "user..." above enjoys the ability
to exchange IP datagrams around the universe from the user's own
machine(s), whereas the other two do not. This is something that you
and some of your users want, which means it's a valuable something.
That means that you can charge extra money for the ability. If you
can charge your customers extra money for that, why can't your
suppliers charge you a little more too?
Secondly, unless that customer is using part of your own IP address
space, your NSP has to do some extra footwork for you to make sure
that your customer's address space is routed to the appropriate
places. The footwork is usually a done-once chore, but it does take
some effort to do it right. That effort should be rewarded.
Thirdly, maintaining the CIX -- technically, operationally and
administratively -- is non-trivial. That maintenance has to be
paid for.
Since other people have to do some work to let you do what you want,
and especially since what you want to do is to make more money, I
think it's quite reasonable that you be required to pay for the costs
and services you will be incurring. That's no different than any
other form of business investment.
| 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.
As I said, managing the CIX is not an easy job. This is why Bill
Washburn was hired in the first place. Heck, he was hired after a
description of the Executive Director's job was sent to com-priv, so
you easily should be able to have some idea of what he does.
However, the CIX is a non-profit 501.c(6) tax-exempt trade association.
I imagine that while his salary is in keeping with his duties, the tax
people would be really really unhappy if your assertion were true.
| 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.
Well, that's your problem. If the CIX members are as unconvinced as
you are about the return on investment, I'm sure they'll express
themselves at the next annual general meeting. The $10000/a buys
them that right, after all.
I wouldn't hold my breath, though.
Sean.
