Re: registries and lotteries

[Michael Dillon <michael@memra.com>]

On Mon, 23 Dec 1996, Jeff Williams wrote:

>   Though I agree that we must all try to do best for all users,
> commercial
> and non-commercial alike, thre is no doubt that the direction and
> therefore
> the influence of the Internet is moving towards the commercial side of
> the
> influence curve.  THAT IS THE REALITY. 

On the contrary, that is *NOT* the reality. It may seem that way to you
because your prime motive in using the Internet is commerce. But the vast
majority of people who are signing up for accounts with ISP's are not
doing so in order to sell or buy products and services. They are
connecting to the Internet to communicate and to gain access to
information. There is no doubt that some people would like the Internet
to be a prime conduit for commerce and that many of those people have
"predicted" that this will happen, however there is little evidence that
this will happen anytime soon. 

The vast majority of electronic commerce happens on networks outside the
Internet. Like the Internet, these networks reach into virtually every
country on the globe, but unlike the Internet, they are geared for
commerce and that is virtually the only thing that happens on them.

Since the Internet is a neutral communications medium, it can as easily be
used for securte commerce as anything else. But commerce is not and never
will be in the nature of the network. When we are dealing with the root of
the DNS we are dealing at the generic level of the network where commerce
is only one of many uses for that network. 

> But just 
> the perposal alone requires $20k deposit.  That consitiutes a commercial
> perpose by definition.

I don't see what this has to do with your comment above. It is clear that
setting up new registries will incur some overhead costs and it makes
sense to have the commercial beneficiaries pay those costs. But the basic
DNS policy still has to recognize that commerce is not the primary use of
the network. The Internet is not an advertising medium or a commercial
medium; it is a communications medium.

Michael Dillon                   -               Internet & ISP Consulting
Memra Software Inc.              -                  Fax: +1-604-546-3049
http://www.memra.com             -               E-mail: michael@memra.com