[1699] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: nsfnet as large-scale testbed
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ken Laws)
Wed Dec 11 12:51:14 1991
Date: Wed 11 Dec 91 09:50:34-PST
From: Ken Laws <LAWS@ai.sri.com>
To: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <9112111702.AA08686@seq1.loc.gov>
Stephen Gould presented an interesting summary of NSFnet's origins.
As he says, the view of NSFnet as a testbed has not been much discussed.
Speaking as a rather distant observer, I'd say that the Congressional
mandate has now shifted. (Although historical mandates are important,
what really matters is what will get funding from Congress next year.)
NSFnet is now seen by the research community as an entitlement, and by
Congress as a means for progress in technology and education -- unrelated
to advances in communications technology, except as it ends criticism
that we are losing the high-speed networking race to Japan and Europe.
NSF is funded by Congress; Congress is driven by lobbyists and voters;
lobbyists want government spending; voters are delivered by the Press;
and the Press love NREN, multimedia, scientific visualization, and
high-speed computing. All factors are positive for Congress and the
President to give NREN to the nation as a gift. I doubt that the
deliberations had anything to do with letting scientists be guinea
pigs for experimentation with unreliable communications technology.
-- Ken Laws
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