[11253] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Antitrust (was Re: What is an "Internet reseller"?)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Miles R Fidelman)
Sun Mar 27 06:55:50 1994
Date: Sat, 26 Mar 1994 07:33:15 -0500 (EST)
From: Miles R Fidelman <fidelman@civicnet.org>
To: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <m0pk5PR-000BZmC@mercury.mcs.com>
Much of this discussion has centered around the fact that the CIX is a
voluntary association, and can thus set whatever rules it likes. Its worth
pointing out that, as a major force in establishing the "rules of the
road" for Internet interconnection, the CIX is probably open to antitrust
action. At some point, this is likely to come back to haunt the CIX and
its membership. [Important caveat: none of this is meant as a negative
statement about the CIX. I, and CCN, believe the CIX is doing a wonderful
job, and that its no settlements policy is a critical model for others
(e.g. the NAPs) to adopt. I simply raise the issue to point out that the
CIXs activities are not totally unconstrained]
What this dialogue points out is the need for serious discussion about
interconnection rules. The basic philosophy that allowed the Internet to
get to where it is today is that everyone pretty much routes to everyone
else. The CIX, and later ANS' membership in the CIX evolved out of this
philosophy and out of general community pressure to conform.
As the Internet becomes more commercialized and privatized, and as larger
players become heavily invested in selling Internet services, there is a
tremendous danger that various players will move toward case-by-case
interconnect agreements. I find this a very scary prospect, with the
potential for balkinization of the Internet into large numbers of pieces
that no longer interconnect - or that interconnect under very complicated
mixes of AUPs and charging schemes. If this happens, my personal opinion
is that at the very least we'll go through a period of major chaos (lots
of places become hard to reach, FCC involvement in the NAPs, antitrust
actions against the CIX, etc.), and potentially the net as we know it could
self-destruct.
It behooves us to begin a dialogue now about what would be a fair and
effective set of interconnection rules for the Internet. We can worry
later about how to implement them.
**************************************************************************
Miles R. Fidelman mfidelman@civicnet.org
Executive Director 91 Baldwin St. Charlestown MA 02129
The Center for Civic Networking 617-241-9205 fax: 617-241-5064
Check out our gopher server:
CCN - The Center for Civic Networking
on the list of all gopher servers in the world.
Information Infrastructure: Public Spaces for the 21st Century
Let's Start With: Internet Wall-Plugs Everywhere
Then We Can Worry About: "Switched, Interactive, Broadband Services"
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