[9427] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
AUPs and Connectivity
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lars Poulsen)
Wed Jan 5 07:07:09 1994
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 11:08:56 +0100
From: lars@eskimo.cph.cmc.com (Lars Poulsen)
To: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <9401041717.AA24075@nic.fonorola.net>
Cc: mstrange@fonorola.net
The discussion about connectivity and how it is influenced by AUP
is still with us. I suspect that I may be the only one present, whose
home network is declared pure commercial, and I am still experiencing
connectivity problems stemming from AUP issues. The latest trigger
was this one: NSTN.NS.CA has no commercial connectivity to the CIX.
In article <9401041717.AA24075@nic.fonorola.net>,
Michael Strangelove <mstrange@fonorola.net> writes:
>A free PostScript version of THE INTERNET BUSINESS
>JOURNAL (December 1993, 1.6) is now available.
>FTP to nstn.ns.ca
>Directory: /pub/internet-business-journal/
>Files: ibj6_1-11.ps and ibj6_12-19.ps
>Special thanks to Nova Scotia Technology Network for making
>this FTP archive available.
The network at my house is a purely commercial network: It serves a
software development office with one employee (me). While some of the
things I do in my free time on this network are recreational and
educational, the purpose of this network and its connections is to
further the business of my employer, a Rockwell International company.
I understand the reason that Steve Wolff feels obligated to maintain
NSFnet's AUP, and can't say I disagree too much with them. Even the
looser formulation that Gordon Cook quoted from Rep. Boucher basically
amounts to the same restrictions. I have no qualms about complying with
the AUP when communicating with university sites. But I cannot comply
with the AUP and communicate with commercial companies in Canada,
Australia, New Zealand or Taiwan. And I cannot easily discern from a
network address whether this address can be reached without violating
the NSFNET AUP. This bothers me a lot.
What I have done about this, is
- to NOT sign the AUP pledge, so that I will notice every time there
is a problem, ... and
- to cheat as needed: I have accounts at sites that HAVE signed the AUP,
and I log in to those accounts to do things that I can't do from
my own system. I also bounce the mail to the AUP-unreachable
destinations off an AUP-compliant site.
But soon we MUST face up to this problem and solve it.
Here is the current list of AUP-restricted destinations from my
/etc/sendmail.cf file:
DMddn
DR cmc.com
# domains which are known to have reachability problems
# bounce these via $R
CU ans.net halcyon.com lmsc.lockheed.com microsoft.com mgi.com
CU mot.com rhyolite.com paramax.com telemax.com wg.com
CU appstate.edu calstate.edu cmu.edu drake.edu du.edu duke.edu
CU iit.edu msu.edu nwu.edu
CU pitt.edu rice.edu ripon.edu uwec.edu washington.edu
CU csn.org lanl.gov mpr.org
CU com.au edu.au oz.au
CU freenet.victoria.bc.ca stemnet.nf.ca ns.ca uoguelph.ca
CU uregina.ca wlu.ca
CU gen.nz ac.nz
# Specific hosts with problems:
# eecs.nwu.edu -> via ANL (NSF)
# goshawk.lanl.gov -> via ESnet
# is.rice.edu -> via NSF
# calcite.rhyolite.com (CSN.ORG) -> via Westnet (NSF)
# stars.reston.paramax.com -> via PREPnet (NSF)
# lis.pitt.edu -> via PSC (NSF)
# chaos.wg.com -> via coNCert (NSF)
# acad.drake.edu -> via mid.net (NSF)
# bashful.u.washington.edu -> via NSF
# interlock.ans.net -> CIX filter ?
# cps.msu.edu -> NSF?
# madmax.mpr.org -> CICnet (NSF)
# soleil.lmsc.lockheed.com -> ANS customer
# cs.cs.appstate.edu
# eis.calstate.edu
# nyx.cs.du.edu
# galactose.mc.duke.edu
# cnsvax.uwec.edu
# csn.org
# mac.ripon.edu
# microsoft.com -> NWNET via ANS
# halcyon.com -> NWNEXUS.WA.COM via ANS
# telemax.com (Wariat.ORG) -> OARnet via NSF
# iitmax.iit.edu -> ANL via ANS
# vixvax.mgi.com -> CIC.NET via NSF
# Non-US:
# halcyon.com.au (munnari.oz.au) -> via NSF
# cs.uregina.ca -> via NSF
# herman.cs.uoguelph.ca -> via NSF
# mach1.wlu.ca -> via NSF->CAnet.CA->onet.on.ca
# actrix.gen.nz (truth.waikato.ac.nz)
# freenet.victoria.bc.ca
# calvin.stemnet.nf.ca (morgan.ucs.min.ca) -> CAnet.CA via NSF
# owl.nstn.ns.ca -> CAnet.CA via NSF
#
# and in ruleset zero,
R$*<@$=U>$* $#$M $@$R $:$1<@$2>$3 user@trouble.domain
R$*<@$*$=U>$* $#$M $@$R $:$1<@$2$3>$4 user@any.trouble.domain
Readers of this list may notice, that many of their home sites are on
the restricted list. For US R&E sites, this is correct, but for US
commercial sites and network service providers, this is obviously not
right !!
I also note, that despite the announcement of ANS joining CIX, the
filter appears to still be in place.
It would seem to me, that if NSF shifts funding from direct payments to
ANS to the regionals so that the regionals buy their own interregional
connectivity from ANS (or competitively from ANS, AlterNET, Sprint and
PSI) then there will no longer be an NSF backbone on which to apply the
AUP.
It would also seem to me that the vBNS has been defined to be
functionally different from the current NSFnet and to explicitly NOT be
meant as an inter-regional default backbone. In light of this, I would
like to understand:
1) Why is NSF planning to extend the ANS agreement rather than shift
the funding ?
2) Why would ANS need a year's guaranteed funding to shift to a
competitive environment ? They have had plenty of warning, and
with the head start they have enjoyed, they would appear to be
positioned to win most of the customers anyway.
To my naive ears, the talk of funding a graceful shutdown of NSFnet
sounds like bridging until vBNS can take over. Letting vBNS assume
the same old role as the default backbone, seems like a prescription
for endless grief.
Here in the Copenhagen area, the national government has mandated that
at least half of the bus routes must be privatized, even though the
government-owned regional transit agency's bus division can often run
them for less money. (I think the reason is to be less vulnerable to
union problems.) When bus lines are up for bid, there is no funding for
graceful shutdown. One contractor who had had a suburban region for 25
years just lost his contract, because the handicap-accessible buses
that the government had persuaded him to install were more expensive to
operate, and a another operator came in with a lower bid subject to a waiver
on the wheel-chair lifts. The old contractor will go out of business
(and the new contractor will probably buy the accessible buses at fire
sale prices, and get a bonus for dismissing the waiver).
--
/ Lars Poulsen Internet E-mail: lars@CMC.COM
CMC Network Products Phone: (011-) +45-31 49 81 08
Hvidovre Strandvej 72 B Telefax: +45-31 49 83 08
DK-2650 Hvidovre, DENMARK Internets: designed and built while you wait
