[12107] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: seeking source of non answers to commercial use questions
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Joseph W. Stroup)
Thu May 5 20:27:23 1994
Date: Thu, 5 May 1994 12:07:59 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Joseph W. Stroup" <nettech@crl.com>
To: Gordon Cook <cook@path.net>
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <9405050546.aa05244@pandora.sf.ca.us>
My name just keeps showing up. Gordon put me in for the real lottery
somewhere.
In plain english - I guess what you asked is why the NSF did not consider
the questions asked by the named companies (you incl.) important ? The
answer is fairly simple - They did not want to. Steve Wolff is not
stupid. He is a government employee. He had to have felt that he could
justify his actions or maybe he thought that the mater would go
un-noticed or un-challanged. Rather silly judgement since you seem to be
on his back so much of the time.
So lets say that Steve got caught in the act. Now what is it that should
be done ? Well the questions regarding commercial usage of the backbone
are very good ones. Given the past history of the way NSF has beed
dealing with the ANS/Merit/MCI-IBM group , the amount of time to prepare
the sol. This is just another display of poor contracting management.
Failure to include these questions and answers in the sol. process would
seem to show that the NSF - A branch of the United States Government was
and is non-responsive on their handling of the sol. This action must be
corrected. One of the options to correct the problem is to EXTEND the
current contract and re-bid the vBNS deal. Yes, I know ANS will continue
to get money - So what, its what they do. There is no way for any of us
to change that now. There is a way for it to be prevented in the future.
Joseph Stroup
On Thu, 5 May 1994, Gordon Cook wrote:
> Here is a FOIA request for the review process documents that
> allowed Steve Wolff to decide NOT to answer the questions asked in
> May 1993 by COOK Network Consultants, Bellcore, Ameritech,
> Advantis, and NCAR on commercial use of the vBNS - defining such
> questions as non substantive despite the earlier controversy
> surrounding his handling of commercial use with ANS CO+RE. Since
> Steve let a FOIA go unanswered for 30 calender days late last year I
> thought I'd offer public notice that the clock is ticking.
>
>
> COOK Network Consultants
> 431 Greenway Avenue
> Ewing, NJ 08618
> (609) 882-2572
> Internet: cook@path.net
>
>
> M. E. Schoolmaster May 5, 1994
> FOIA Officer, Room 1245
> National Science Foundation
> 4201 Wilson Blvd.
> Arlington, VA 22230
>
> Dear Ms. Schoolmaster:
>
> This is a Freedom of Information Act Request focused on the
> communications of Stephen Wolff Director of DNCRI. I am still
> seeking to learn where Dr. Wolff receives his policy direction for
> matters dealing with NSF 93-52. The subject is commercial use of
> the vBNS. NSF was asked questions about commercial use of the
> vBNS in May 1993 by myself and Bellcore, Ameritech, Advantis and
> NCAR. Despite the controversy over the previous round of
> commercial use as reported by the NSF Office of Inspector General in
> April 1993, Wolff answered none of these questions in Amendment 2
> to the solicitation issued on June 23rd 1993. Since Wolff stated then
> that this ammedment contained the answer to all substantive
> questions and reiterated this statement in electronic mail to Joe
> Stroup on November 30 1993, I am seeking documents that would
> help explain how he possibly could have reached this decision. In
> the absence of any such documents I shall assume that the
> Foundation allows him to set controversial policy without review -
> something that the IG Review recommended against in April of last
> year, shortly before the decision about which questions should be
> answered was made. With this in mind I wish all copies of
> communications between Dr Wolff and Walter Massey, Frederick
> Bernthal, the current NSF Director Neal .Lane, Charles Brownstein,
> Mel Ciment, and Dr. Donald A. B. Lindberg, (in his capacity of
> Director of the High Performance Computing and Communications
> Office) at the National Library of Medicine, and Jack Gibbons or Mike
> Nelson in OSTP and Vice President Gore.
>
> I wish copies of all electronic mail, letters, memos or other
> documents. And please note that the term "documents" is intended
> to have the broadest possible meaning and encompass, without
> limitation, anything included within the definition of "writings" or
> "recordings" set forth in Rule 1001(1) of the Federal Rules of
> Evidence. Furthermore I wish not only email sent and received on
> US government machines but email relevant to these matters sent or
> received on private services such as America Online where Dr. Wolff
> stated publicly on April 29 that he has a "personal" account.
>
> I am the editor and publisher of The COOK Report on Internet ->
> NREN, a monthly newsletter on the policy and politics of the
> emerging NREN and on-going commercialization of the Internet. I
> have paid subscribers across the United States and in Japan and in
> Singapore. My newsletter is specifically cited by name in recently
> published books on the Internet by Paul Gilster and Mary Cronin.
> This information is for use in my newsletter and in other published
> research on this subject. I understand that because I am a member
> of the press I will not be charged for the expense of collecting or
> duplicating this material.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Gordon Cook
>
