[9444] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
The annointed
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Barry Shein)
Wed Jan 5 15:02:11 1994
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 14:59:43 -0500
From: bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein)
To: perry@stars.reston.paramax.com
Cc: bmanning@is.rice.edu, com-priv@psi.com, marc@MIT.EDU,
In-Reply-To: Dennis Perry - Unisys's message of Wed, 5 Jan 94 06:33:01 EST <9401051133.AA24048@aviary.Stars.Reston.Paramax.COM>
>From: perry@stars.reston.paramax.com (Dennis Perry - Unisys)
>So, it seems to me that if we could develop the transit system for
>the Internet to be more like the neutral snail-mail system, then
>sites could impose their own AUP on what comes in and what goes
>out.
I agree 100%.
Studying systems like the USPS should be instructive. As much as we
all tend to be critical let's face it, they handle real volume. Two
hundred years of walking the fine line between what is reasonable and
fair and what is manageable within a huge system is not to be lightly
discounted.
I think most of the problems regarding AUP etc are just growing pains,
there was a time when we could imagine controlling certain types of
behavior but those days are rapidly passing us by. An entirely
different management approach is needed and that's what the internet
is moving towards, either with a plan or without one.
The big difference is that the internet is hugely decentralized and
becoming more decentralized every day. This appears to be both its
strength and its nature, so that's what we get to work with.
The primary unifying forces are the various phone systems and their
own interoperability, and the existence of standards at the higher
layers. To some extent this makes analogies difficult, I can't think
of any huge systems (other than perhaps the phone systems) which work
quite this way, except by ignoring some critical aspect of the analogy
(such as the decentralization or size/scope.)
-Barry Shein
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