[2031] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: The "national highway system" analogy is incorrect.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Marc Horowitz)
Sat Jan 18 20:56:27 1992
To: vjs@rhyolite.wpd.sgi.com (Vernon Schryver)
Cc: Jack Haverty <jhaverty@us.oracle.com>
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
Reply-To: Marc Horowitz <marc@MIT.EDU>
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 92 20:55:41 EST
From: Marc Horowitz <marc@Athena.MIT.EDU>
>>> vjs@rhyolite.wpd.sgi.com (Vernon Schryver):
>> On the contrary. Most (all?) heavy commercial traffic is required to
>> pay extra to use the public highways. In many jurisdictions you pay per
>> "ton-mile". The "log books" truckers and trucking companies are required
>> to maintain are not just to try to keep drivers from relying on chemicals.
>>> Jack Haverty <jhaverty@us.oracle.com>:
>> Isn't the public highway system also partially funded by the
>> gasoline tax? To me that's a pragmatic implementation of a
>> pay-by-usage policy - and a reason why farm vehicles get a rebate on
>> gasoline taxes.
And on the Internet today, people who are connected generally pay by
the size of the pipe they use (I am aware it is not a linear
function). Someone who has a 9.6kbs SLIP connection pays a lot less
than someone with a 10mb microwave link. Although this pays for
potential usage, and not real usage, it seems a fair enough system.
People who feel they are paying for usage they are not using buy less.
Today, with fractional T1 speeds becoming available, you should be
able to purchase one of 9.6, 56, 386, 772, 1544, 10000, or
(eventually) 45000 kbps. In a demand-based system, I'm sure other
size connections will be available, and all the prices will come down.
So, we have a system where people, in general, pay for what they use.
If the national backbone model looks like the CIX, then the government
could give money to each institution to buy its service. If the model
is a single gov't operated, funded, or regulated backbone, then the
pricing could be reduced for R&E sites.
One more comment, sorry for yelling:
HEY NSF AND ANS: WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO ANSWER SOME OF OUR QUESTIONS?
OVER AND OVER, WE ASK QUESTIONS OF YOU, AND OFTEN GET NO ANSWERS AT
ALL.
Marc
