Re: Specific Questions

[Simon Higgs <simon@higgs.com>]

At 10:44 AM +0000 12/28/96, David R. Conrad wrote:

> Simon,
>
> >> 2) I believe the cooperative agreement was written such that the
> >> InterNIC participants had their performance reviewed and if they
> >> didn't perform, the cooperative agreement would be terminated.
> >
> >And it was terminated. That's more than just a modification to a
> >contract. That's the enforcement of it.
>
> Huh?  If you enforce a clause in an agreement, you are modifying it?
>

Any point where the status of that agreement changes due to the
contents of the agreement entails a modification to the relationship.
In this case the status changed by the termination of the agreement.
This is a more than just a subtle modification.

> >> I believe it was always intended that the various parts of InterNIC
> >> would develop user based charging.
> >Good grief! Charging is not my point. The point is that the agreement
> >was modified.
>
> In what way was it modified?  I believe NSF always intended the various
> parts of InterNIC would charge for their services.  I'd be a bit surprised
> if NSF planned on supporting InterNIC for eternity.  I know people like
> painting NSI as the evil monopolists raping everyone on the planet for
> $50/year, but the reality is a bit more pedestrian.
>

Look at what happened. NSF stopped their funding for .COM/.NET/.ORG,
and at the same time SAIC picked up the tab by aquiring NSI outright.
The NSF agreement now formally allowed SAIC/NSI to recoup the cost of
registrations, and as such the agreement for the services performed was
modified. As you can see, a lot of things, such as the relationships of
the participants, also changed.

[Note that I never said anyone did anything wrong]

> >If it can be modified once it can be modified again.
>
> Perhaps, but I suspect only if the partners of in the cooperative agreement
> agree to the modifications.
>

What about the customer base? Don't they have a say?

Regards,

Simon

--
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