[11649] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Clinton Adminsitration Corporate Network Socialism?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Miles R Fidelman)
Tue Apr 12 18:16:33 1994
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 1994 12:26:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: Miles R Fidelman <fidelman@civicnet.org>
To: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <199404120613.JAA14720@shaldag.ubique.co.il>
On Tue, 12 Apr 1994, Ehud Shapiro wrote:
> If you believe that the Internet is the right foundation for the NII
> (and hopefully for the WWII), then jumpstarting it with projects like
> CommerceNet might prove to be one of the best investments of the U.S.
> government.
>
To build on this a little, let me cite a historical precedent:
The aircraft industry in this country was built on government purchases
of warplanes.
The airline industry was built on a base of government airmail contracts
- which provided a stable revenue base on which to build commercial
freight and passenger businesses, and which as a result provided
commercial customers for the aircraft industry.
For a long time, there were government subsidies to the airlines for
service to small airports.
Re. the Internet:
The internet equipment business (BBN, Cisco, Sun, ...) was built on a
base of DoD technology and network contracts, NSF spending, and on general
spending by universities on research infrastructure.
Telenet Corp. (now Sprintnet), PSI, UUnet, etc. all grew out of a
technology and market base that was initially subsidized by the government.
The latest crop of small Internet providers exist solely because there's
a pre-existing Internet that people want to connect to.
In short:
The Internet, like the air traffic system before it, is a successful
example of government spending leading to a thriving commercial industry
(note that about 30% of Internet sites are now commercial, and represent
the fastest growing segment).
Also note that the air traffic industry is a good example of how NOT to
remove government spending from an industry -- while we've seen price
cuts from deregulation, we've also seen quality go way down, a slew of
bankruptcies, a slowdown in aircraft orders, prices to out-of-the-way
locations have gone up, the air traffic control system is in shambles,
etc....
Continued, targeted government spending and involvement in the Internet
seems like a good thing right now, and if Commercenet leads to a
technically and operationally sound, open-standards basis (this is being
done with Federal money - right?) for electronic commerce across the
Internet - this will be a very good thing for all of us.
Miles Fidelman
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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
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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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