Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: The Internet and Acceptable Use Policies
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2008 10:30:53 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Dan Lynch <dan () lynch com> Date: September 7, 2008 9:08:28 PM EDT To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>, <lauren () vortex com> Subject: Re: [IP] The Internet and Acceptable Use PoliciesWhat a hoot! "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" was an evening Soap Opera show in the late 70s that got a large following and one of my computer operators at SRI, Geoff Goodfellow, was a fan of it and set up an email discussion list for people to comment on it. It did take off as Lauren notes, and caused a stir for a while. I remember talking with Bob Kahn at ARPA then about it and wondering when the hammer might be brought down on it and he said NO, that it was pushing the envelope of network resources in many dimensions and
was doing network development a huge favor by the load it provided! Dan On 9/7/08 10:14 AM, "Dave Farber" <dave () farber net> wrote:
BTW the NLR research network is intentionally AUP free not like .... djfBegin forwarded message: From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com> Date: September 7, 2008 12:47:53 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: lauren () vortex com Subject: The Internet and Acceptable Use Policies Dave, The concept of *arbitrary* Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) for network users can often be defended in completely private, internal operating environments (and of course in specific government contexts). However, once these networks move out into the public space in terms of users -- particularly in commercial operating modes and taking on increasingly "can't get along without them" public infrastructural roles -- arbitrary, capricious, anti-competitive, or purely profit-oriented AUPs can no longer be tolerated. I well remember the original ARPANET AUP and some of its rather amusing fallout. Two of the very earliest ARPANET mailing lists were a "Wine Tasting" discussion list and a "Mary Hartman" list (this was all before the first creation of a mailing list digest -- as a "stopgap" measure for SF-LOVERS later on). All of these lists (particularly the former two) were tiny by modern standards. The Wine Tasting list got written up in "Datamation" magazine, and ARPA sent a Colonel around to remind everyone about the AUP. Yet here's the rub that's particularly of note today. All sorts of things were going on in those early ARPANET days that technically violated the AUP, including some that would have caused considerably more public outcry if known at the time than a Wine Tasting list. Yet the amount of important development that was driven in e-mail and database systems, network communications systems, and many other areas to support those "forbidden" applications by enthusiastic users was huge. If everyone had stuck tightly to the AUP I'm convinced that the negative impact on ARPANET and Internet development would have been enormous. ISPs imposing their own arbitrary AUPs, bandwidth caps, application filters and controls will likely have a similar stultifying effect. Not only are current applications that society now increasingly depends on at risk, but all manner of new Internet services, applications, and firms may be stillborn as a result. This is not to say that there shouldn't be policies regarding use of the Internet. But I am saying that we have passed the time when such important decisions can be accepted when they're made in arbitrary manners without public scrutiny and without appropriate regulatory oversight. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com - - -As the author of the first formal AUP, at least for the NSF networks, I can assure you they were strong and existed. Also Darpa had similarworks. The AUP evolved slowly to face reality djf Begin forwarded message: From: Brett Glass <brett () lariat net> Date: September 7, 2008 10:37:51 AM EDT To: dave () farber net, "ip" <ip () v2 listbox com> Subject: Re: [IP] Re: Breaking: Comcast Challenges FCC Order on Net Management Practices DV: Lest we forget, AUPs have been enforced since the beginnings of the ARPANet. I remember having to read and follow Stanford's AUP in 1983, and watching as a few users who violated it were denied computing and/or network privileges. It's important to remember that the Internet is a "network of networks," with the owner of each of the networks maintaining administrative control of his or her "piece" of it. This is one of the key architectural features which distinguishes the Internet from the public switched telephone network (PSTN), which was originally a heavily regulated monopoly under centralized control. --Brett Glass ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Tel. 707-967-0203 Cell 650-776-7313 My assistant is Dori Kirk Tel. 707-255-7094 dori () lynch com ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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