[2790] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
The fate of Internet, further comments
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (gkushmer@Jade.Tufts.EDU)
Wed Jun 3 12:28:57 1992
To: steve@cise.cise.nsf.gov
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: Stephen Wolff's message of Wed, 03 Jun 92 09:26:11 EDT <9206031326.AA04244@ncri>
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 92 12:20:43 EDT
From: gkushmer@Jade.Tufts.EDU
>> I'm against Dialog's being on the net as they charge for your telneting over
>> to their machine
> So I shouldn't be allowed to telnet to them even if I am willing to pay for
> the convenience? Or is it that you wish to regulate their pricing policy?
> If their Internet business isn't profitable they'll change it. Why not let
> the market decide?
I guess I've done it now :-)
Let me clarify how and why I feel the way I do about Dialog. For those
of you who don't know much about Dialog, it is an information service
based on connect time to individual database services. So, for instance,
if I am interested in finding an article in the Boston Globe, then I link
up to file 631 and pay a certain rate. This rate, however, is not the
same rate as you pay to be in PTS PROMPT file 16 or Dun's Market Identifiers
file 535(?). In other words, there are varying rates charged per database.
On top of this, a user is also racking up charges in whatever means is used
to connect to their machine. The cheapest, I believe, is DIALNET which
(surprise!) is owned by Dialog. Now Dialog does NOT charge you extra if
you connect to them via TELENET or TYMNET which they do not own.
Then last December Dialog announced that they hooked up to the Internet
via ANS. In their little magazine they pass out to subscribers, they said
that there would be an additional charge of $3 per connect hour on top
of whatever file you're using.
It is this additional charge that annoys me so. Obviously they have the
right to charge for the use of their machines (I think they charge too
much for the information you get, but that's a personal opinion and a
separate issue). Obviously they have the right to charge you connect time
for DIALNET. But they shouldn't be able to charge you for telneting in.
Dialog pays a fee to be on the net, but they do not own it. Dialog does
not charge you to connect via TYMNET, why do they charge you to connect
over the Internet? The first answer that comes to mind is that Dialog is
trying to recoup the cost of their internet fees. As a for-profit
company they have a right to make a profit, but they could have been a little
less subtle in this instance. They could have raised the fee on their
more popular database by a penny per minute and would have easily
recollected the internet fee.
>From a marketing perspective, this really smacks of stupidity to me - Dialog
tells you that you can connect to them on internet and pay more for the same
service! So the marketing argument doesn't work so well for them in this
instance.
I should probably end on the note that I see that Internet is going
commercial and that this is not necessarily a bad thing in my eyes.
However I would not like to see the Internet used as a means for junk
mail (mass e-mail for "Use our database this week and save ten dollars
on the connect fee!"). With companies like Dialog on the net, I'm
wondering how long it will be. . .
--gk
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