INTERNET DEADBEATS

["Rick H. Wesson" <wessorh@ar.com>]

INTERNET DEADBEATS

Network Solutions Inc., the authorized collector of fees paid for Internet
addresses, reports that it's about $10 million short of the $20.7 million
that should be in the account, based on the number of addresses registered
since payment was first mandated in 1995.  The unpaid fees are partly
attributable to "speculators and resellers who have no intention of paying,"
says a spokesman for the National Science Foundation, the federal agency
that appointed Network Solutions Inc. and oversees its work.  Thirty percent
of the money collected is earmarked for the "preservation and enhancement"
of the "intellectual infrastructure" of the Internet, but so far, none of
the funds have been spent.  "The sooner that the money is spent on the good
of the Internet, the better, in my opinion," says the president of the
Internet Society.  Meanwhile, a chemical engineering professor at Virginia
Tech has called for a public accounting of the $10.7-million shortfall:  "I
think NSF has a tiger by the tail, and the prudent action is to let go of
the tail." (Washington Post 11 Jan 97 D1)

-- 
Rick H. Wesson