[8524] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: ANS and the CIX
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Marc Horowitz)
Sun Nov 21 17:39:18 1993
To: Miles R Fidelman <fidelman@civicnet.org>
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: [8520] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Date: Sun, 21 Nov 93 17:38:29 EST
From: Marc Horowitz <marc@MIT.EDU>
>> So - perhaps its time to think about placing the NAPs under the
>> jurisdiction of an agency that DOES see itself as a regulatory agency,
>> and cares about such issues about guaranteed interconnection, rules that
>> establish a level playing field, common carriage, and the like -- namely
>> the FCC.
(This is going to be really controversial :-) Now that ANS has joined
the CIX, what reason is there for the NAPs to exist at all? The CIX
(if it grows - one site in California isn't gonna be enough) has
pretty much everything you want in a level playing field, all the
major players have already bought in, and the barrier of entry is
almost non-existent for new members. Why change a thing?
Now, conceivably, the CIX membership could vote to close themselves
off to new members tomorrow. I don't think that will happen, but the
government (FCC, probably) should be watching the CIX very closely.
If this happens, then the CIX should get stomped on. But until that
happens, I see no reason for any government intervention whatsoever.
If the government still wants to build NREN, they can go ahead, and
connect as a CIX member!
Marc
