[8779] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Imminent Death of the Net As We Know It (was Re: One-way Internet?...)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (sean mclinden)
Sat Dec 4 17:51:13 1993
Date: Sat, 4 Dec 1993 17:37:12 -0500 (EST)
From: sean mclinden <sean@dsl.pitt.edu>
To: stpeters@dawn.crd.ge.com
Cc: walkerl@med.ge.com, com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <9312042211.AA02394@spare-parts.crd.Ge.Com>
On Sat, 4 Dec 1993, Dick St.Peters wrote:
> I think changes in the net are coming that are similar to what happens
> to a town when it grows large enough that the discount stores move in.
> For want of better terms, I'll call this a change from a community model
> to a market model.
> [...]
> Are we in for something like this on the Internet ?
Not necessarily. The value of the "virtual" community is that many of the
costs (not necessarily monetary) associated with growth may not need to
be incurred if your infrastructure is appropriately designed. On the
other hand, part of your scenario depends on the existence of monopolies
at one or more points in the system, in particular, in the areas of
government, taxation, and planning of social services all of which force
communities to decide between mutually exclusive alternatives. The
Internet need not be like this and should not be like this.
Sean
