RFC 1192 (rfc1192) - Page 2 of 13

Commercialization of the Internet summary report

Alternative Format: Original Text Document


RFC 1192           Commercialization of the Internet       November 1990


        community;
             ....
             (6) be established in a manner which fosters and
        maintains competition and private sector investment in high
        speed data networking within the telecommunications
        industry;
             ....
             (8) be phased out when commercial networks can meet the
        networking needs of American researchers."

   -- S. 1067, 101st Congress, 2nd Session, as marked up April 3, 1990
   ["High-Performance Computing Act of 1990"], Title II, Section 201.

Background

   This report is based on a workshop held at the John F. Kennedy School
   of Government, Harvard University March 1-3, 1990, by the Harvard
   Science, Technology and Public Policy Program.  Sponsored by the
   National Science Foundation and the U.S.  Congress Office of
   Technology Assessment, the workshop was designed to explore the
   issues involved in the commercialization of the Internet, including
   the envisioned National Research and Education Network (NREN).
   Rather than recapitulate the discussion at the workshop, this report
   attempts to synthesize the issues for the benefit of those not
   present at the workshop.  It is intended for readers familiar with
   the general landscape of the Internet, the NSFNET, and proposals and
   plans for the NREN.

   At the workshop, Stephen Wolff, Director of the NSF Division of
   Networking and Communications Research and Infrastructure,
   distinguished "commercialization" and "privatization" on the basis of
   his experience developing policy for the NSFNET.  He defined
   commercialization as permitting commercial users and providers to
   access and use Internet facilities and services and privatization as
   the elimination of the federal role in providing or subsidizing
   network services.  In principle, privatization could be achieved by
   shifting the federal subsidy from network providers to users, thus
   spurring private sector investment in network services.  Creation of
   a market for private vendors would in turn defuse concerns about
   acceptable use and commercialization.

Commercialization and Privatization

   Commercialization.  In the past, many companies were connected to the
   old ARPANET when it was entirely underwritten by the federal
   government.  Now, corporate R&D facilities are already connected to,
   and are sometimes voting members of, mid-level networks.  There are
   mail connections from the Internet to commercial services such as



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