[IP] MIT Tech review vs the Internet

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

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From: Bob Frankston [Bob19-0501@bobf.frankston.com]
Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2008 8:47 PM
To: David Farber; nnsquad@nnsquad.org
Cc: Dave Burstein; Bob  Metcalfe; Andrew B Lippman; Bob Buderi
Subject: MIT Tech review vs the Internet

After months of online discussions debunking the various myths about the Internet being just like a highway or railroad<http://www.frankston.com/public/?name=Railroad> and citing the limitations of the Nemertes Study (http://www.frankston.com/?name=IPClog) it’s disappointing to read Technology Review revisiting this old ground and presenting the Internet as a series of tubes being clogged by users consuming too much “Internet”.

Do I need to again cite Andy Lippman’s observation that networking is something we do and not a service we have to buy. The question is not how do ISPs recover their costs -- the question is why we keep insisting on funding our infrastructure by charging for services instead of recognizing that the infrastructure is not a profit center. It’s a means by which we create value everywhere else in society. If you run the infrastructure for a profit all you do is assure scarcity<http://www.frankston.com/?name=AssuringScarcity>. Creating scarcity is an amazing feat considering the abundance available at essentially no cost compared to the value.

Today’s Internet is a powerful example and implementation of the far more general concept of creating solutions by focusing on the relationships between end points outside the networking without having to depend on seeking permission or buying special status from every provider along the way. TR could be helping us understand the future rather than just reviewing past misunderstandings.



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