[10460] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: bill to insure flat rate Internet email pricing (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Clay Shirky)
Thu Feb 24 08:55:24 1994
From: Clay Shirky <clays@panix.com>
To: bmanning@is.rice.edu (William Manning)
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 1994 08:52:20 -0500 (EST)
Cc: love@essential.org, bzs@world.std.com, welch@oar.net, com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <9402241047.AA04236@brazos.is.rice.edu> from "William Manning" at Feb 24, 94 04:47:09 am
> Well, me. Excuse me for a moment while I put on my xenophile hat.
> Thanks. Now please explain in small words, how this UScentric attempt on
> flat rate pricing affects people & lists inside & outside the US? I find it
> hard to fathom how we implement this idea on a global scale without
> harming ourselves and irritating our global neighbors.
There is a difference between the rhetoric and practice of the globalizing
effects of the net, that difference being that national sovereignty still
exists. When proposing legislation, as Mr. Love is clearly doing, one can
only work on the national level. Were the World Court or the UN to try to
implement anything like this, they would be ignored.
> The one analogy that I come up with is Chile, where -every- packet into
> and outof the borders is metered. If I remember correctly, the attempt
> was to "average out the costs" amoung users. This had the unfortunate
> side affect of stifling use and drove "average cost" through the roof.
> Not much traffic from Chile these days... :-(
This is colonialism. If Chilean policies are bad, that is an issue
between the Chilean government and its people.
ObDisclaimer: I am not endorsing Mr. Love's proposal, less because I
like flat rate pricing than because I dislike Gov't regulation. I just
object to the idea that the US is the world's sysop.
--
Clay Shirky
