[11403] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
re: The whole CIX concept is flawed
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Per Gregers Bilse)
Thu Mar 31 17:22:41 1994
From: Per Gregers Bilse <bilse@eu.net>
Date: Thu, 31 Mar 1994 19:42:01 +0200
In-Reply-To: <9403310246.AA19679@bsu-cs.bsu.edu>
To: com-priv@psi.com
On Mar 30, 21:46, Anonymous wrote:
> intimidating; racket; extortion; protection money
and what not.
Dear Anonymous,
I think most ISPs somehow welcome you, if for no other reason than a
bigger Internet is a better Internet. This is indeed one of your
points.
You are, however, unaware of a number of historical and current facts.
On the Internet you will find
- no police
- no law
- no courts
- no authorities
- no security
(That's one of the reasons it's working so well.) That means that if
somebody wants to strangle you, or any other small ISP, all you can
do is to wave your arms; a minute later, you're gone.
The only safe haven for ISPs like you is the CIX. The CIX is the
closest you can come to an authority and a free market; and it's
actually quite good at it. If you call that a protection racket,
you must have been growing up in a tin can.
Your view of the CIX is, with all due respect, distorted beyond
recognition. Keep in mind that you have no right whatsoever to
exchange traffic with anybody else; it only happens if they wish to
do it. Except in one particular place, where there is a guarantee of
free exchange: the CIX.
You want that guarantee for free. Sorry, can't be done. For one
thing, there are real operational costs (manpower, equipment, office
space, etc) associated with the CIX itself. The fact that you
transit via somebody else doesn't reduce the need for the CIX to be
there. Why should you, as an ISP, be allowed to get all the benefits
of CIX membership, without chipping in? Foul play.
As a matter of fact, the CIX has been so important for the
development of commercial Internet Service Provision, that if the CIX
hadn't been here well before you, you wouldn't be here at all.
Others sow, and you just want to reap? Foul play.
The CIX is also the closest thing we can come to a trading
association, setting standards for Internet Service Provision.
Currently, the "only" standard is zero-settlement traffic, but that's
the basis for everybody's livelyhood. In the future, the CIX may
well develop into something significantly more substantial, but you
don't want to take part? You don't want to join the other ISPs in
building our common future? F... well, you probably know what
I was going to say.
You seem to be extremely hung up over the money issue. If you want
to become a certified accountant, doesn't that cost? A doctor? A
taxi driver? If in no other way, then because you need to study, and
learn -- but in many cases, certificates cost real money, for no
_obvious_ reason. Who has made you believe you can become an ISP for
free? If your budget breaks because of a one-off fee of $10k, you
probably can't even survive a disk crash or two. Does the Internet
stand to gain by having barrel-scrapers like you join in? I don't
think so -- personally, of course.
--
bilse <bilse@EU.net> +31 20 592 5109 (dir: 5110); fax +31 20 592 5163
``Psst ... wanna buy some Internet?''
