[1128] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Forwarded from PACS-L Digest
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Joe Abernathy)
Thu Aug 8 21:21:28 1991
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 91 20:16:33 CDT
From: edtjda@magic322.chron.com (Joe Abernathy)
To: com-priv@psi.com
Cc: edtjda@chron.com
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Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1991 15:29:23 CDT
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>From: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <uunet!pucc.PRINCETON.EDU!LIBPACS%UHUPVM1.BITNET>
Subject: Commercial use of the Internet
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1>
Status: RO
2 Messages, 55 Lines
*-----
>From: kessler@athena.berkeley.edu (Jack Kessler)
Subject: Re: Commercial use of the Internet
Would Roy Tennant, and perhaps Vinton Cerf as well, care to comment
on rampant rumors that Westlaw and/or LEXIS are negotiating for
Internet access? Also, don't the existing gateways for Compuserv
and MCIMail constitute commercial use? It seems to me that things
already are getting commercial, and that the sooner the Internet
gets to a public utility/regulatory environment the better.
Jack Kessler
kessler@ocf.berkeley.edu
kessler@athena.berkeley.edu
*-----
>From: kessler@athena.berkeley.edu (Jack Kessler)
Subject: Re: Private sector and the Internet
I think Tom Wilson's posting is correct. He characterizes the issues
of the "private use of the Internet" question and then points out
what we actually should be focussing on:
Brian Kahin at Harvard has labelled the two issues you identify as
1) Commercialization -- private "use", and 2) Privatization --
private "control" of the Internet, Tom. (This in a paper I read
last year, summarizing a Spring '90 conference of the JFK
School's Information Technology program.) I personally don't
think there's much to debate about the first point,
commercialization. Of course private industry is going to use
this technology, just as soon as they can figure out how to make
it pay. The academies, furthermore, just because they can claim
some credit for having invented the techniques (not all of them)
shouldn't be allowed to monopolize them.
The second point, privatization, seems to be muddled. What does
"control by", as in "control by AT&T" or "control by NYNEX"
really mean? As I understand it, both IBM and MCI have been
heavily involved in NSFNet for some time, and yet there control
appears to have been pretty benign. Your final point clarifies
this, Tom. Our real focus should be on the administrative
structure which will coordinate all this activity, both
commercial and non. I suggest the model of a public utility --
like PG&E or any other water/gas/electric utility -- subject to
close and strict review by a government commission like
California's Public Utilities Commission. PG&E hires vendors,
contracts, and provides a service to public, private, commercial
and academic users, all under public regulation and review. This
would be a good starting model, I think, for a broadened, public
and private, Information Service.
Jack Kessler
kessler@ocf.berkeley.edu
kessler@athena.berkeley.edu
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