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
Kahin