[11246] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Universities (was: What is an "Internet reseller"?)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (John [Francis] Stracke)
Sat Mar 26 23:19:15 1994
Date: Fri, 25 Mar 1994 17:26:30 +0500
From: francis@avalle.insoft.com (John [Francis] Stracke)
To: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: Glenn S. Tenney's message of Wed, 23 Mar 1994 21:37:51 -0800 <199403240538.VAA02171@netcom9.netcom.com>
>>Because they're not selling the services to others (engaged in the practice
>>of IP packet resale).
>
>Wrong. Many universities DO have a charge to students for using their
>computers, and many universities either require or allow students to bring
>in and use their own computers.
>In every sense of the word, you have consistently been defining a
>university --- they have a router; the packets are not originated by them
>or their employees only; they charge for the service. In your words, then
>most universities would be IP resellers.
"Most"? I've never seen this. I *have* seen one university
(uchicago.edu) where students were charged ($20/yr, I think) to
connect their own computers to the campus LAN, but IP access wasn't
separate; they were paying for the LAN infrastructure--and they could
use the campus machines for free.
Anyway, what's the difference between a university charging a student,
who's using IP for schoolwork, and a company charging one of its
departments, who's using IP for company work? In each case, a member
of the institution is using IP for institution-related work; to say
that the student isn't (necessarily) employed by the university is
splitting hairs. The company charging its dept. is doing it to keep
accountability in the budget; the same motive applies in the
university (after all, it'd be pretty trivial to add $20/yr to
tuition, just as it'd be trivial to cut every dept's budget by the
cost of IP).
The real difference, IMHO, between a university and an ISP is that the
university doesn't provide IP access to the public.
/===========================================================================\
|John (Francis) Stracke | My opinions are my own. |
|InSoft, Inc. |==================================================|
|Mechanicsburg, PA | "A ship is safe in a harbor, but that's not |
|francis@insoft.com | what a ship is for."--unknown |
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