Subject: Re: The 'net's a many-faceted thing... From: dowjone!rexb (Rex Ballard) Date: Sun, 13 Mar 94 23:35:16 EST

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> From jvncnet!marketplace.com!owner-online-news Tue Mar  8 14:15:27 1994
> Date: Sun, 6 Mar 1994 00:42:33 -0500
> From: jvncnet!world.std.com!ddern (Daniel P Dern)
> To: online-news@marketplace.com
> Subject: The 'net's a many-faceted thing...
> Sender: jvncnet!marketplace.com!owner-online-news
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> 
> Various people wrote:
>
> >Even though I'm an advocate of using the Internet for delivery of paid
> >content, I mostly agree with McQueen. I think any commercial use of
> >the Internet should be an added capability, not one that displaces the
> >uses that gave rise to the Internet in the first place.

The very nature of the internet is that it was first a "Gathering Place",
an open forum and a means for people to share information and ideas.  Only
after about 10 Million people started using the internet as an alternative
to FAX did people begin to see the Internet as a viable commercial media.
The internet was commercialized for about 2 years before it was accepted
as suitable for E-Mail.

> >This raises an interesting issue about the much-ballyhooed Information
> >Superhighway. It seems to me that what a lot of the big commercial
> >users -- cable companies, phone companies -- are really talking about
> >is an Information Railroad: a transportation system wherein the right-
> >of-way and the rolling stock are owned by a company, and where random
> >access by members of the public in their own vehicles, to and from
> >random destinations, is not permitted.

At the moment, the primary concern is one of security and reliability.  It was
only a few years ago that the backbones ran through the ethernets of several
universities.  It would have been theoretically possible for a college student,
equipped with a "Sniffer Program" to watch the flow of checks generated by
J.P. Morgan Bank.  That kind of information can be very sensitive.

Four years ago, it was possible for an Internet user to dial-in via a terminal
server and unleash a virus that could cripple every e-mail server on the internet.
Today, terminal servers are expected to keep a caller-ID record of incoming calls.
Someone could still do damage, but it is easier to trace the source and apprehend
the perpetrator.

In terms of the "Roads and Railroads" paradigm, the new restrictions on the
internet are the equivalent to requiring driver's license, registration,
license plates, and insurance.  Accidents will still happen, but there is
more accountability today.

In the corporate market, MIS managers still refer to "The Internet Worm",
and the CERT Alerts, as a basis for restricting internet access to E-Mail
only.

> >This latter kind of use is, of course, the essence of the Internet.
> >The Internet really is a public highway (not a private railroad) and
> >it's essential this quality be preserved. Just think how different our
> >country would be if there were no (physical) highways, only railroads.
> >I think it's critical that the Internet remain a publicly or at least
> >collectively financed electronic infrastructure with universal access.

There are many concerns on the internet.  Commercial users are especially
concerned about security, liability, and responsibility.  If there is a
possiblity that some user could cripple the cash flow of a corporation by
accessing a production system through the internet, then there is also
a need for "Insurance", liability, and security.

If there is a possibility that some user could access critical information
by "Sniffing" passwords, E-Mail, or local files that could be used for
blackmail, extortion, or financial gain, there is a need to protect privacy
both legally and technologically.

The government has been fighting the use of DES for 20 years.  They feel
it gives users too much privacy.  They have been trying to impose the use
of a "Trap-Door" system that gives them the ability to read corporate mail.
The right to privacy is one issue.  The use of DES as an international
means of transferring confidential information is another.  The current
rate for Military DES private keys is over a quartar million dollars.

Of course, the logic is the same as that of gun control.  Foreign governments
know about DES, use DES, and can't break DES.  Drug dealers use DES, and
so do Kiddie Porn dealers.  Of course the insurance company that manages
your pension or 401K can't use DES.  A "leak" can cost them the equivalent
of 1% of your retirement income in one day.

Stock Brokers use DES to encode bids, offers, and transactions.  Even then they
use a backbone that is protected from the Internet.

> >But my belief is that those of us who want to operate commercial
> >vehicles on the Internet highway can be permitted to do so without
> >jeopardizing its essential character ...

Commercial and private users really want the same thing.  Access to roadways
that are relatively safe, secure, and well maintained.  Much the same way
truckers pay more for use of the highways than car owners, commercial users
will pay more for use of the highways than private users.  Much the same
way there are safety requirements on cars and trucks, there will be minimum
requirements for POPs, nodes, and hubs.

> >I might point out that the Internet already is put to commercial use....
> With all due respect, I submit that most of these threads are outside
> the scope of this mailing list.  The Internet is a superset of all
> the above definitions (including this one :-); although we tend to
> view the semi-public use of mail, News and Gopher/WWW/FTP-space of
> the 'proper role of the 'net' the reality is far more complex, and
> a substantial hunk of it is neither free, public, government, or
> relevant to the individual-user population.  Back to our regularly
> scheduled topic, please.

In many ways, the issues described above have everything to do with the topic.
Many of us are getting this list through a transport that does not give us
interactive service.  The strategy for managing commercial use of the
Internet for Electronic Publications depends heavily on the use of interactive
real-time access for authentication, billing, and distribution.

Such practices as sending a news story with the headline and first paragraph
unencoded and the remainder of the story compressed and DES encrypted with the
user able to get a password in "Real Time" would be a simple solution to many
distribution problems.  But if the user happens to be in Canada, I've
just committed treason.

	Rex Ballard
	Project Manager
	DowVision Joint Ventures
	Dow Jones & Company Inc

From jvncnet!marketplace.com!owner-online-news Mon Mar 14 10:39:04 1994