[9146] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: an Internet buying coop?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Karl Denninger)
Sun Dec 19 15:16:14 1993
From: karl@mcs.com (Karl Denninger)
To: tenney@netcom.com (Glenn S. Tenney)
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1993 14:14:57 -0600 (CST)
Cc: nii_agenda@civicnet.org, com-priv@psi.com, communet@nysernet.org
In-Reply-To: <199312192003.MAA27190@mail.netcom.com> from "Glenn S. Tenney" at Dec 19, 93 12:03:16 pm
> The recent discussions we've been having about the CIX, and the PSI /
> Buffalo Free-Net problems, and now the coop note have me thinking...
>
> SOME providers are, IMHO, overly paranoid about competition etc. The
> solution is to get the umbrella organization to understand the problem and
> to push the solution through to all of its members.
>
> So here's my off-the-cuff, first thought of a crazy idea...
>
> Why don't we push the CIX to add something to their member agreements that
> would require their members to allow their subscribers to re-sell access or
> somesuch. Of course, it would likely also have to say that doing so would
> only be allowed if the subscriber also joined the CIX, but we could also
> push for membership fees based on number of expected annual resales (why
> should ANS pay the same $10K as XYZ Coop reselling to three users?).
Any attempt to mandate sales policies of this kind by a trade association is
likely to run into BIG anti-trust problems. As a company which is about to
join the CIX (like paperwork is being prepared now), I would be the first to
vehemently oppose any such provision. Being a party to an anti-trust lawsuit
is no fun at all.
I don't mind the $10k annual floor on CIX membership.
--
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