[1893] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
The NREN and Regulation
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Barry Shein)
Mon Jan 6 14:55:33 1992
Date: Mon, 6 Jan 92 14:53:06 -0500
From: bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein)
To: sean@dsl.pitt.edu
Cc: farber@central.cis.upenn.edu, perry@MCL.Unisys.COM, sac@apple.com,
In-Reply-To: sean mclinden's message of Mon, 6 Jan 92 10:20:41 -0500 <9201061520.AA16504@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu>
>Some people view "regulation" as equivalent to "restriction."
Actually, I view regulation (when it works) as primarily setting a
standard for an industry that they all must equally comply with. As an
example, a safety regulation in the auto industry. It's cheaper to
build a car w/o it. Knowing that all your competitors must comply with
the same regulation removes the temptation to try to eliminate the
feature in order to lower production cost and hence undercut price.
I am sure that in many industries many regulations are welcome,
regardless of popular polemics on the subject (there are dumb and
hurtful regulations, no doubt about it.) It ensures that possibly
invisible (to the consumer) or non-obvious standards are being met by
all vendors equally and levels the playing field to compete elsewhere
in the product's aspects.
-Barry Shein
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