Over the past ten years it has grown to include over 6 million host computers. National policy has sought to capitalize on the research Volume 37, Number 3, June 1996 p.562 potential of interlinked university and government networks to advance science and technology and to regain U.S. economic supremacy. This strategy has resulted in U.S. dominance over the international system.
Uneven distribution is even more marked in the developing world.
Recent changes in legislation and funding have allowed the system to include commercial services, which are now more prominent than the nonprofit sector. Participating institutions pay a fixed access fee. Universities usually absorb total costs to provide free services to their own faculty and students. They also make their files available to remote users without charge. This broad accessibility reflects the original academic mandate of the system as well as an explicit ethos supporting open exchanges of scholarly information.