[499] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
ANS: Clarifying What is Commercial
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (tmn!cook@uunet.uu.net)
Fri Mar 29 22:40:46 1991
From: tmn!cook@uunet.uu.net
To: com-priv@psi.com
Date: Fri Mar 29 22:37:01 1991
<<MESSAGE from>> Gordon Cook 29-MAR-91 22:37
cook@tmn
Mmmmm with ANS intending to put the Fortune 500 on the net, it is easy to
forget that even for the Fortune 500 traffic should be in support of
research and education..... that's how its phrased right?{_
And sure some use policy makes sense. {_I doubt that many could find
anything to complain about in Alternets policy. By proscribing only
material judged legally threatening or obscene, it makes the courts the
enforcers{_}i.
Why can't ANS do the same, or is there something that I am missing in it's
quasi commercial status, that forces it to get involved in policing
network content?
Am I wrong? Are there no common carrier or first amendment issues in this?
I have heard Al Weis say that commercial firms they put on the net, like
for example, a Mc Graw Hill could deliver $10 million dollars worth of
textbooks across the net without be{_ing in violation of the more liberal
ANS backbone use policy for its customers. Is this still a good
example of how THIS part of the ANS use policy differs from NSF acceptable
use?
