[702] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Let 100 Backbones Bloom!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lyle Seaman)
Thu May 16 10:54:47 1991
From: lws@capybara.comm.wang.com (Lyle Seaman)
To: mckenzie@bbn.com, tmn!cook@uunet.uu.net
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
Date: Thu, 16 May 91 10:04:22 EDT
Alex,
I agree that Gordon's scenario only moves the acceptable-use policy
question down a half-level in the networking hierarchy, but I don't
agree that allowing "market forces" to rule as regards interconnection
is wise (I can't believe I'm saying this...). In that case, a large
provider could completely shut anyone else out of the market, because
a newcomer would be unable to acheive a sufficient critical user mass
to be attractive to customers. In fact, a large provider would threaten
its users that if they chose to connect to any other additional providers,
that they would be dropped. No one wants to be isolated; the value of a
network is usually directly proportional to the number of other sites on
it. (Not always, but those will only be small niches, I think).
If AT&T were not forced to allow MCI users (eg) to call AT&T users,
I don't think MCI would be in business.
Lyle Wang lws@capybara.comm.wang.com
508 967 2322 Lowell, MA, USA
