Re: registries and lotteries

[Michael Dillon <michael@memra.com>]

On Mon, 23 Dec 1996, Marty Modell wrote:

> According to a recent article there are 30 million URLs out there and 
> nine million e-mail addresses.  The ad council estimates that more 
> than $20 million in ad revenues will be generated on the internet 
> this year.  If that isn't commercial I don't know what is.

$20 million a year is a pittance even if you consider just the USA.
That is a sure indication that the Internet is not commercial.

> BTW Isn't Mr Dillion the one who said that he spends 10-12 hours a 
> day on the net

I said I have spent up to 10-12 hrs a day on the net, mostly back when I
was an Internet Service Provider. Some days I don't even use the net at
all now.

> and only reads his local papaer once a week and he 
> didn't watch TV.  Must live in a cave somewhere. 

I don't own a TV and the local paper only comes out once per week. Why
should you care where I live? I have just as much right to use the
Internet as you. And I am trying to speak out for the average Internet
user who does not even know the IAHC exists.

> He is obviously 
> completely in touch with relity.  He obviously can avoid seeing the 
> ad banners that appear on almost evry site on the net  (including the 
> netscape/Internet Explorer Now buttons which probably don't qualfy i 
> his mind as commercials)

Most websites that I visit do not have ad banners. I read some magazines
like Infoworld and of course they have ads just like paper magazines. But
I primarily use the net for communication with other people via email and
USENET where there are very few ads. And the websites I visit for
education and enlightenment are frequently labors of love by people who do
not derive any revenue from their sites.

Just because there is commercial activity on the Internet does not make it
a commercial network and does not make commercial interests the only ones
who should be given consideration. The majority of Internet users want to
communicate with other people and want to learn new things. The network
planners have to keep their interests at the fore because they are the
majority.

Obviously many people with commercial interests are here in this forum
expressing the views of the commercial community. But I'm trying to 
make it clear that there is another community whose voice must be heard if
only in my second hand accounting of it.

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