[11268] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Options (was Re: What is an "Internet reseller"?)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dick St.Peters)
Sun Mar 27 20:19:40 1994
Date: Sat, 26 Mar 94 21:02:25 EST
From: stpeters@swan-song.crd.ge.com (Dick St.Peters)
To: karl@mcs.com
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
Reply-To: <stpeters@dawn.crd.ge.com>
>Is this debate really about whether or not you have a right to <take>
>something of value (my routing capability to and from my customers and
>others) without MCSNet having the right to insist on payment in some form
>that we <mutually> agree on (in kind, in money, or in gratitude) for
>that service? Do you, as a customer, say, of Alternet, have the right to
>dictate to <my> company the terms on which I must route your traffic?
Let me turn the question around on you. Do you have the right to block
traffic to your paying customers for any reason other than at their
request?
If you believe the answer to that is yes, then the Internet is broken.
We have independent fragilely-connected pieces of what could be an Internet.
There are only two possible states: 1) every provider is selling
guaranteed connectivity to every Internet customer, or 2) no provider
is selling guaranteed connectivity to every Internet customer.
If the private sector can only come up with #2, we will wind up with
regulated utilities providing #1
Karl, you had best get over the notion that if you don't like what
Alternet is letting its customers do then you can take it out on your
own customers.
--
Dick St.Peters, Gatekeeper, The Pearly Gateway; currently at:
GE Corporate R&D, Schenectady, NY stpeters@dawn.crd.ge.com
