Ian & Stuart's Australian Mac: Not for Sale/Another.not.for.sale (Australia).iso/fade into you/being there/Internet Accounting/Internet Metering

Text File | 1994-11-11 | 11KB | 206 lines

TAXPAYER ASSETS PROJECT - INFORMATION POLICY NOTE
May 7, 1994

-    Request for signatures for a letter to NSF opposing metered
     pricing of Internet usage

-    Please repost this request freely

The letter will be sent to Steve Wolff, the Director of Networking and
Communications for NSF.  The purpose of the letter is to express a number
of user concerns about the future of Internet pricing.  NSF recently
announced that is awarding five key contracts to telephone companies to
operate four Internet "Network Access Points" (NAPs), and an NSF funded
very high speed backbone (vBNS).  There have been a number of indications
that the telephone companies operating the NAPs will seek permission from
NSF to price NAPs services according to some measure of Internet usage.
The vBNS is expected to act as a testbed for new Internet pricing and
accounting schemes.  The letter expresses the view that metered pricing of
Internet usage should be avoided, and that NSF should ensure that the free
flow of information through Internet listserves and file server sites is
preserved and enhanced.

  Jamie Love, Taxpayer Assets Project ([e-mail]; but
     unable to answer mail until May 15).  Until then, direct
     inquires to Michael Ward.

If you are willing to sign the letter, send the following
     information to Mike Ward of the Taxpayer Assets Project
     ([e-mail], fax: [phone]; voice: 202/387-8030;
     P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036):

Names:    ___________________________
Title:    ___________________________   (Optional)
Affiliation:   ____________________________________
(for purposes of identification only)
Address:       ______________________________________
City; St, Zip  ________________________________
Email Address: _____________________________________
Voice:         __________________________________
for verification)

                            The letter follows:

Steve Wolff
Director
Division of Networking and Communications
National Science Foundation
1800 G Street
Washington, DC  20550

Dear Steve:

It is our understanding that the National Science Foundation (NSF) and
other federal agencies are developing a new architecture for the Internet
that will utilize four new Network Access Points (NAPs), which have been
described as the new "cloverleaves" for the Internet.  You have indicated
that NSF is awarding contracts for four NAPs, which will be operated by
telephone companies (Pac Bell, S.F.; Ameritech, Chicago; Sprint, NY; and
MFS, Washington, DC).  We further understand that NSF has selected MCI to
operate its new very high speed backbone (vBNS) facility.

There is broad public interest in the outcome of the negotiations between
NSF and the companies that will operate the NAPs and vBNS.  We are writing
to ask that NSF consider the following objectives in its negotiations with
these five firms:

     PRICING.

We are concerned about the future pricing systems for Internet access and
usage.  Many users pay fixed rates for Internet connections, often based
upon the bandwidth of the connection, and do not pay for network usage,
such as the transfer of data using email, ftp, Gopher or Mosaic.  It has
been widely reported on certain Internet discussion groups, such as
com-priv, that the operators of the NAPs are contemplating a system of
usage based pricing.

We are very concerned about any movement toward usage based pricing on the
Internet, and we are particularly concerned about the future of the
Internet Listserves, which allow broad democratic discourse on a wide
range of issues.  We believe that the continued existence and enhancement
of the Internet discussion groups and distribution lists is so important
that any pricing scheme for the NAPs that would endanger or restrict their
use should be rejected by the NSF.

It is important for NSF to recognize that the Internet is more than a
network for scientific researchers or commercial transactions.  It
represents the most important new effort to expand democracy into a wide
range of human endeavors.  The open communication and the free flow of
information have make government and private organizations more
accountable, and allowed citizens to organize and debate the widest range
of matters.  Federal policy should be directed at expanding public access
to the Internet, and it should reject efforts to introduce pricing schemes
for Internet usage that would mimic commercial telephone networks or
expensive private network services such as MCI mail.

To put this into perspective, NSF officials must consider how any pricing
mechanisms will change the economics of hosting an Internet electronic
mail discussion groups and distribution lists.  Many of these discussion
groups and lists are very large, such as Humanist, GIS-L, CNI-Copyright,
PACS-L, CPSR-Announce or Com-Priv.  It is not unusual for a popular
Internet discussion group to have several thousand members, and send out
more than 100,000 email messages per day.  These discussion groups and
distribution lists are the backbones of democratic discourse on the
Internet, and it is doubtful that they would survive if metered pricing of
electronic mail is introduced on the Internet.

Usage based pricing would also introduce a wide range of problems
regarding the use of ftp, gopher and mosaic servers, since it conceivable
that the persons who provide "free" information on servers would be asked
to pay the costs of "sending" data to persons who request data.  This
would vastly increase the costs of operating a server site, and would
likely eliminate many sources of data now "published" for free.

We are also concerned about the types of accounting mechanisms which may
be developed or deployed to facilitate usage based pricing schemes., which
raise a number of concerns about personal privacy.  Few Internet users are
anxious to see a new system of "surveillance" that will allow the
government or private data vendors to monitor and track individual usage
of Information obtained from Internet listserves or fileserves.

     ANTI-COMPETITIVE PRACTICES

     We are also concerned about the potential for anti- competitive
behavior by the firms that operate the NAPs.  Since 1991 there have been a
number of criticisms of ANS pricing practices, and concerns about issues
such as price discrimination or preferential treatment are likely to
become more important as the firms operating the NAPs become competitors
of firms that must connect to the NAPs.  We are particularly concerned
about the announcements by PAC-Bell and Ameritech that they will enter the
retail market for Internet services, since both firms were selected by NSF
to operate NAPs.  It is essential that the contracts signed by NSF include
the strongest possible measures to insure that the operators of the NAPs
do not unfairly discriminate against unaffiliated companies.

Recommendations:

As the Internet moves from the realm of the research community to a more
vital part of the nation's information infrastructure, the NSF must ensure
that its decisions reflect the needs and values of a much larger
community.

1.   The NSF contracts with the NAPs operators will include
     clauses that determine how the NAP services will be priced.
     It is important that NSF disclose and receive comment on all
     pricing proposals before they become final.  NSF should
     create an online discussion list to facilitate public dialog
     on the pricing proposals, and NSF should identify its
     criteria for selecting a particular pricing mechanism,
     addressing the issue of how the pricing system will impact
     the Internet's role in facilitating democratic debate.

2.   NSF should create a consumer advisory board which would
     include a broad cross section of consumer interests,
     including independent network service providers (NSPs),
     publishers of Internet discussion groups and distribution
     lists, academic networks, librarians, citizen groups and
     individual users.  This advisory board should review a
     number of policy questions related to the operation of the
     Internet, including questions such as the NAP pricing, NAP
     operator disclosure of financial, technical and operational
     data, systems of Internet accounting which are being tested
     on the vBNS and other topics.

3.   NSF should solicit public comment, though an online
     discussion group, of the types of safeguards against
     anticompetitive behavior by the NAPs which should be
     addressed in the NSF/NAPs contracts, and on issues such as
     NAPs pricing and Internet accounting systems.

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--
    Rev. Jason Epel     |  "Where ever you go, there you are."
[e-mail] |  "Do it today, tomorrow is always a day away."
Certified Hunatherapist,|"The night has a thousand eyes, And the day but one;
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From: [e-mail] (Rev. Jason Epel)
Newsgroups: fl.general,ucf.talk,alt.computer.consultants,alt.internet.services
Subject: Internet Metering (x-post)
Date: 12 May 1994 23:46:05 -0400
Organization: Orlando, FL
Lines: 227
Message-ID: <2qut5t$[e-mail]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: pegasus.cc.ucf.edu
Summary: Possible Internet "byte" charges
Keywords: charges,fees,internet,cost,rates,metering,meter
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