[2282] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Connecting to the Internet outside of the US?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sean Donelan)
Tue Feb 4 20:32:52 1992
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1992 17:22:37 -0600 (CST)
From: SEAN@SDG.DRA.COM (Sean Donelan)
To: com-priv@psi.com
X-Vmsmail-To: SMTP%"com-priv@psi.com"
> When in doubt, it is probably fair to assume that the same general
> principles apply. w/r/t your question about, e.g., a connection
> in Switzerland, you can establish a connection there, you can
> get to the Internet in Europe and the US and the rest of the world.
>
> EUnet today provides Internet access to approximately 100 sites
> across most of Western Europe, with expectations of significant
> growth over near and long-term. Our AUP is, as to be expected,
> derived from the NSF policy.
In general the NSF interim AUP is VERY U.S.-centric, and if the EUnet
policy is based on it, I assume it is equally Euro-centric. This tends
to create a catch-22 of acceptable use policies.
Pulling in some of the NSF interim AUP:
>(5) Use in support of research or instruction at not-for-profit
> institutions of research or instruction in the United States
> is acceptable.
I've been wrestling with what to do with "international" researchers using
resources mounted at for-profit sites in the U.S. (such as Data Research).
And of course the opposite is true for researchers in the U.S. using
resources located at the equivalent of a for-profit site in another country
(assuming EUnet has a similar, but opposing clause in their AUP about the
institution being located in Europe). You can't use the normal escape clause
about "in support of R&E at a not-for-profit institution" since the NSF
interim AUP also requires that be in the U.S.
As usual different places are making different decisions. Trent University
in Canada went to Onet and got an opinion that it would be within Onet's
AUP to use the Internet to access databases at Data Research. On the other
hand University of Toronto has decided to be more cautious and plans to
install a leased line to the U.S.
I asked NSF about this last year, and got a verbal opinion about the "intent"
of the the NSF interim AUP. Hopefully it will still be applicable after NSF
redoes its AUP, but I don't hold up much hope. I think it'll be hard to find
that Congress intended to fund access to Dialog for non-U.S. researchers.
Of course trade wars (or would this be called an information war?) work in
both directions, I assume that the non-U.S. funding sources would impose
similar restrictions. Kinda of defeats the purpose of internetworking...
--
Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO
Domain: sean@sdg.dra.com, Voice: (Work) +1 314-432-1100
