[2412] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Bogus message, not bogus billing
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jeffrey Shapard)
Wed Feb 26 04:48:51 1992
Date: Sun, 23 Feb 92 18:40:32 JST
From: Jeffrey Shapard <kddlab!twics.co.jp!jefu@uunet.UU.NET>
To: com-priv@psi.com
X-Vms-Mail-To: UU%"com-priv@psi.com"
>From: Steven.Grimm@Eng.Sun.COM
>...
>Sorry for any inconvenience I've caused anyone.
Hey, that's the way things work out sometimes. Shall I just send
the bill to Sun.COM for 45yen times however many K of unsolicited
stuf hit my mailbox this afternoon to recover my costs? <grin>
Just kidding, but this does illustrate a point I made earlier in
my whining about the lack of a fair billing mechanism among the
various networks whereby the SENDER PAYS. Accidents still happen,
but the costs are not passed on by default to others. I sure know
that I have made my share, by golly.
It was pointed out to me, in the case of Japan, our gateway
forwarder calls UUNET on their dime (or a whole double handful
of them), so I cannot really complain about having to pay for
coming as well as going. And I am aware that traffic can go
both ways during a single session, regardless of which site
does the calling. What I am calling for in terms of a billing
agreement is that the cost-sharing between sites be separate
from the billing for the messages and netnews exchanged. And
our current protocols and mailers and so on do not have this
sort of accounting built into them, and the nature of the so
far subsidized academic networks has not encouraged such a
development. (What? Accounting? This is supposed to be free,
and what if somebody asks me to justify all the bandwidth
I am using?) This is an issue that will have to be addressed
sooner if not later. I say sooner is better, before the suits
get hold of the issue and complicate it unnecessarily.
Now before John Quarterman jumps in here and starts asking
me to write an article on this subject for Matrix News --
which you should all rush right out and subscribe to today,
by golly, it is excellent -- I better slip back off into my
corner... and get to work on the draft.
By the way, I enjoyed A POEM BY JAISHANKAR PRASAAD, even though
I cannot understand Hindi. <smile>
--jefu
* Jeffrey Shapard <jefu@twics.co.jp> "Connectivity *
* Connect-activist and Operations Director is our biz..." *
* TWICS/IEC, 1-21 Yotsuya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160 JAPAN *
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