[530] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Acceptable use policies
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brian Lloyd)
Fri Apr 5 03:52:09 1991
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 91 22:10:44 PST
From: Brian Lloyd <brian@napa.telebit.COM>
To: com-priv@psi.com
Reply-To: brian@napa.telebit.COM
While great fun to debate, this is a relatively unproductive
discussion. The bottom line is going to come down to volume and
capacity. As networking grows and becomes more ubiquitous the sheer
volume is going to preclude peeking inside every packet (I am sure
that there are those who will try but they will be so busy with their
own security mindset that it is unlikely that they will divulge what
they find). Acceptable use policies will essentially fall by the
wayside.
A good analog is the postal service. The postal service has
acceptable use policies. They do not, however, see fit to examine all
the mail to ensure compliance. It is up to someone at the endpoint to
complain. As long as the endpoints are happy and the "unacceptable"
use causes no problem for the postal service in the performance of its
duties, all are happy.
Now on to the real reason for the acceptable use policies: politics.
As long there are policies to satisfy those who believe such things
are important, and as long as everyone else pays lip service to said
policies, all is happiness. I know of many grey areas where the
acceptable use policies of public sector networking (ARPAnet/Internet)
were probably violated. (BigMac anyone?) Most people keep to the
sane policies and that takes care of that.
Now, how about something important -- like how to deal with tariffs
and intercarrier accounting so that the purveyors of public internets
can recoup their operating costs and perhaps turn a profit.
Brian Lloyd, WB6RQN Telebit Corporation
Network Systems Architect 1315 Chesapeake Terrace
brian@napa.telebit.com Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1100
voice (408) 745-3103 FAX (408) 734-3333
These comments are my own and should not be misconstrued as the views
of any other entity.
