The general public is only just beginning to discover and explore the potential of this mode of telecommunication. As is true of many other kinds of infrastructure, users and service providers commingle in complex ways. There are some parallels with the road system. There are privately owned roads and driveways which interlink with public thoroughfares and highways. Vehicles are owned and operated by all sectors.
Service providers own or lease switching equipment and telecommunications facilities.
Private and public network operators must cooperate and users often also serve as information suppliers by operating anonymous FTP archives, Web servers, gopher servers, email distribution lists, and so on. The collection of users and service providers affect one another in complex ways and it is partly because of these interactions that commonly-held codes of conduct are important to develop and to observe. As any system approaches infrastructual proportions, concern for public well-being is a natural development. The Internet community can contribute to informed discussion on these matters through production of documents such as this one. Without informed debate, there is always the possibility that laws will be created which are inimical to achieving the potential benefits of a global information infrastructure.