Revolution in the U.S. Information Infrastructure (1995) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
The Role of Government in the Evolution of the Internet
The Role of Government in the Evolution of the Internet
Pages 13-24
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From page 13... ...
Very little of the current Internet is owned, operated, or even controlled by governmental bodies. The Internet indirectly receives government support through federally funded academic facilities that provide some network-related services.
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From page 14... ...
Extensions of the packet-switching concept to satellite networks and to ground-based mobile radio networks were also under development by ARPA, and segments of industry (notably not the traditional telecommunications sector) were showing great interest in providing commercial packet network services.
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From page 15... ...
During this early period, the U.S. government, mainly ARPA, funded research and development work on networks and supported the various networks in the ARPA Internet by leasing and buying components and contracting out the system's day-to-day operational management.
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From page 16... ...
in two. One of the resulting networks, to be known as MILNET, would be used for military purposes and mainly link military sites in the United States.
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From page 17... ...
The NSF supercomputer centers program represented a major stimulus to broader use of networks by providing limited access to the centers via the ARPANET. At about the same time, ARPA decided to phase out its network research program, only to reconsider this decision about a year later when the seeds for the subsequent high-performance computer initiative were planted by the Reagan administration and then-Sen.
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From page 18... ...
, and to provide members of the U.S. academic community access to the NSF supercomputer centers and to one another.1 Under a cooperative agreement between NSF and Merit, Inc., the NSFNET backbone was put into operation in 1988 and, because of its higher speed, soon replaced the ARPANET as the backbone of choice.
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From page 19... ...
Regional networks, initially established to serve the academic community, had in their efforts to become self-sufficient taken on nonacademic customers as an additional revenue source. NSF's Acceptable Use Policy, which restricted backbone usage to traffic within and for the support of the academic community, together with the growing number of nonacademic Internet users, led to the formation of two privately funded and competing Internet carriers, both spin-offs of U.S.
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From page 20... ...
NSF also selected MCI to provide a very high speed backbone service, initially at 155 mbps, linking the NAPs and several other sites, and a routing arbiter to oversee certain aspects of traffic allocation in this new architecture. The Internet Society was formed in 1992 by the private sector to help promote the evolution of the Internet, including maintenance of the Internet standards process.
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From page 21... ...
Furthermore, the Internet offers the possibility of bypassing conventional service offerings by regulated carriers. This may both make it extremely difficult for the regulated carriers to compete effectively in certain areas and make it hard for government regulators to ignore the Internet.
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From page 22... ...
Finally, the ability to conduct network-based business between countries will require the resolution of many legal issues, including the formalization of legal contracts online and the ability to deal with associated customs and trade-related matters. At its core, the issue of online legal contracts seems to require the use of encryption technology, which has been perhaps the most closely held of all the network-oriented technologies.
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From page 23... ...
In the case of U.S. infrastructure development, the government must provide leadership in many dimensions, including the removal of barriers where they inhibit progress; the insertion of legal, security, or regulatory mechanisms where the national interest so dictates; and the direct stimulation of public-interest sectors, for example in research, education, and certain network aspects of public health, safety, and universal access that require government assistance.
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From page 24... ...
And without government involvement on an international scale, it is unlikely that a global information infrastructure will emerge or that the Internet will continue to evolve in a vital and dynamic way. Taking a long view, network and computer technologies are still in their infancy, and many of their current uses reflect past practices carried out more effectively in new environments.
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