Re: What happens in 1998?

[Carl Oppedahl <carl@oppedahl.com>]

At 10:49 AM 12/05/96 -0500, John R Levine wrote:
>Does anyone here have any insight to what the NSF's intentions might be 
>when the current Internet agreement expires in 1998?
>
>In particular, do they want to continue to be involved in handling COM,
>NET, and ORG?  For that matter, do they want to continue to handle EDU?
>Or will this fall back on the IANA which, presumably, will have follow-on
>plans by then? 

Everything I have seen suggests that NSF wants to avoid the unpleasantness
of making any decision about this.  What I have seen is rather vague hints
along the lines of FNAC and NSF getting out of this business.

NSI, on the other hand, has made no secret of its ambitions.  In a Network
World story, NSI is quoted as saying that when the contract expires, they
assume and are planning that they will keep running COM as before.  All that
would change is that instead of having to answer to others for their
conduct, as they have and will during their five-year contract, they would
answer to no one.

My sense is that this would be a travesty, rather like what would happen if
a concession operator at the edge of the Grand Canyon on lease from the
National Park Service were to be suddenly told that they don't need to pay
any more rent, and that the Park Service is giving them the land that the
concession sits on.