[9301] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: press references to NSF getting out of intnet funding
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Russell Nelson)
Tue Dec 28 10:44:23 1993
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1993 10:03:40 EST
From: "Russell Nelson" <nelson@crynwr.com>
To: rhauben@heartland.bradley.edu
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
On Mon, 27 Dec 93 21:36:55 CST, "Ronda Hauben" <rhauben@heartland.bradley.edu> wrote:
> Thus it seems that there is an awareness that the reason
> for the NSF to stop subsidizing the backbone directly (they
> will still they claim subsidize individuals and still have
> to pay maybe even more for less ) is not to save the U.S.
> govt money or to expand access among the academic world -
> but somehow to help commercial entities (which is not
> as far as it seemed in the past the obligation of the NSF).
But Ronda, it gets more complicated than that. If I want to sell you
packet driver support, and do it over the Internet in such a way that
the ANS-owned, NSF-funded backbone is involved, that's okay. FTP
Software is a customer of mine, but I can't use the backbone to
support them. But if you were a customer of FTP Software, I could
support *you* over the backbone.
And to make things even more interesting, The University of York,
Heslington York, UK, just signed up for packet driver support.
I think you'd agree that they're a "good" non-profit user. But
they're not allowed to use the NSF backbone either.
In general principle, when no one obeys a law, the law should be
rescinded. When the legislative branch fails to do this, they
unilaterally give power to the executive branch. We should get rid
of the AUP because very few people obey it (if only because it's not
completely clear when and how to obey it). Similarly, we should get
rid of the 55 MPH speed limit because so few people obey it.
The AUP sucks. Get rid of it.
And in any case, why are you arguing for subsidizing the elites of our
society when there are so many poor, homeless, and sick people who
don't have Internet access, and until they're not poor, homeless and
sick, probably won't care?
--
-russ <nelson@crynwr.com> ftp.msen.com:pub/vendor/crynwr/crynwr.wav
Crynwr Software | Crynwr Software sells packet driver support.
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