[753] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
IETF questions -- Internet growth
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Craig A. Finseth)
Wed May 29 13:49:38 1991
Date: Wed, 29 May 91 09:56:18 -0500
From: "Craig A. Finseth" <fin@unet.unet.umn.edu>
To: vcerf@NRI.Reston.VA.US
Cc: emv@ox.com, solensky@animal.clearpoint.com, ietf@ISI.EDU,
In-Reply-To: vcerf@NRI.Reston.VA.US's message of Wed, 29 May 91 07:15:29 -0400 <9105290715.aa02866@NRI.NRI.Reston.VA.US>
I think you have a good point - we need to consider a pay as you
go registration in any case because it doesn't seem appropriate
any more for the U.S. government to pick up the tab for operating
the Internet Registry all on its own - especially given the burst
of commercial registration under way.
Actually, I think that it is perfectly appropriate for the U.S.
government to do just that. I have several reasons for this position:
- There are several examples of the government handing out identifiers
(the more the merrier!): the Post Office hands out addresses, the
Social Security Administration hands out SS#s, the State Department
(?) hands out passport id #s, the DoD hands out service numbers, etc.
- The is also a history of the government subsidizing infrastructure
for the good of all. On the national level, we have highway and
airport construction. On the state level, we have general road
construction. On the local level, we have fire departments, police,
sidewalks, sewers, and other such infrastructure. In general, when
everyone benefits, it simply makes sense to spread the costs around
instead of paying lots of money to figure out that, indeed, everyone
benefits.
- The cost to actually issue a number should be roughly $zero. Well,
maybe $0.10. The cost to bill someone will be roughly $<a lot>
(probably $5.00 to $50.00). But this money doesn't help provide
service: it merely covers the costs of shuffling paper.
- What's more to the point, however, is that as everyone knows, only
rich people have the slightest interest in obtaining such identifiers.
Hence, it will be politically popular to charge excessive fees. (If
you don't believe me, ask ANSI what they want to register you for
X.500. Be sure that you are sitting down when you ask.)
- Finally, any charging mechanism will skew the system. We are all
familiar with the vendor that said "go ahead and use this network
number" and how hard it was to get their customers to switch to their
own *free* number. If we tell them "oh, and your number will cost you
$<a lot>" we will have a huge amount of resistance to change.
Craig A. Finseth fin@unet.umn.edu [CAF13]
University Networking Services +1 612 624 3375 desk
University of Minnesota +1 612 625 0006 problems
130 Lind Hall, 207 Church St SE +1 612 626 1002 FAX
Minneapolis MN 55455-0134, U.S.A.
