From: breinhar@access.digex.com (Robert B. Reinhardt)
Subject: Re: Commercialization of the Nets?
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, Maryland USA
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 23:53:11 GMT

In article <1ar6sgINNhqb@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> bm665@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jay Robert Hauben) writes:
>
>     The following article appeared in the University of Michigan 
>Information Technology Division publication INFORMATION TECH-
>NOLOGY DIGEST, Volumne 1, Number 10, September 7, 1992 on page 3.
> 
>     Can anyone explain what this is all about? Doesn't the 
>agreement this article describes violate the non-commercial 
>essence of the Internet? I thought that government participation 
>and public contribution to the developemnet of the Internet was 
>predicated on the non-commercial nature of the traffic that the 
>Internet would carry. 
> 
non-commercial essence is basically theory, not written in
law as far as I know, but that doesn't mean I agree with
Merit...
> 
>        Merit Network Signs Agreement
>       to Pass Commercial Data Traffic
>    
>    Merit Network has signed an agreement
>    with Advanced Network & Services (ANS)
>    of Elmsford, NY, that will allow Merit's
>    business users throughout Michigan to
>    access the same high-performance com-
>    puter networking resources used by the
>    nation's higher education and research
>    communities and to access the global
>    collection of computer networks called
>    the Internet. ANS provides the highspeed
>    T3 backbone used by the Internet. The
>    gateway agreement was reached be-
>    tween Merit and ANS subsidiary ANS
>    CO+RE Systems (ANS CO+RE).
>    
>    Internet access for commercial users
>    in Michigan will be provided through
>    MichNet, Merit's statewide data net-
>    work. MichNet is linked to the Na-
>    tional Science Foundation's NSFNET,
>    a nationwide, high-speed computer net-
>    work for research and education that is
>    also managed by Merit. NSFNET is

Bingo.  Basically, they can do what they want.

>    connected to the ANS network, which
>    provides high-speed T3 backbone ser-
>    vices and access to the Internet.
>    
>    Previously, access to NSFNET was avail-
>    able only to organizations engaged in
>    activities directly related to research and
>    education. The new agreement will allow
>    MichNet to bridge the data networking
>    gap that has existed between the state's
>    corporate users and the nation's research
>    and higher education communities, fos-
>    tering collaboration in areas ranging
>    from information management to tech-
>    nology transfer.
>    
>    Merit is an Ann Arbor-based, not-for-
>
>    profit consortium of nine of Michigan's

Not for long...stay tuned...

>    publicly funded universities. MichNet
>    also serves a variety of organizations in
>    Michigan through Merit's affiliate pro-
>    gram, including four-year colleges, com-
>    munity colleges, K-12 schools, libraries,
>    non-profit organizations, health care
>    providers, state and federal govemment
>    agencies, and commercial enterprises.
>
>
This is probably going to become an even
more expensive hobby than it really is, and/or
we'll all startup our own private and commercial
nets and set up a constantly fluxing matrix of
who's charging who for what access.

Boom Boom Out Go The Lights

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                                 Robert B. Reinhardt
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