As per Relevance of the word services, we have this rfc below:
Network Working Group M.
Request for Comments: 1259 Electronic Frontier
September 1991
Building The Open Road
The NREN As Test-Bed For The National Public
Status of this
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It
not specify an Internet standard. Distribution of this memo
unlimited
A debate has begun about the future of America's
infrastructure. At stake is the future of the web of
links organically evolving from computer and telephone systems.
the end of the next decade, these links will connect nearly all
and businesses in the U.S. They will serve as the main channels
commerce, learning, education, and entertainment in our society.
new information infrastructure will not be created in a single step
neither by a massive infusion of public funds, nor with the
capital of a few tycoons, such as those who built the railroads
Rather the national, public broadband digital network will
from the "convergence" of the public telephone network, the
television distribution system, and other networks such as
Internet
The United States Congress is now taking a critical step toward
I call the National Public Network, with its authorization of
National Research and Education Network (NREN, pronounced "en-ren").
Not only will the NREN meet the computer and communication needs
scientists, researchers, and educators, but also, if
implemented, it could demonstrate how a broadband network can be
in the future. As policy makers debate the role of the
telephone and other existing information networks in the nation'
information infrastructure, the NREN can serve as a working test-
for new technologies, applications, and governing policies that
ultimately shape the larger national network. Congress has
its intention that the
would provide American researchers and educators with the
and information resources they need, while demonstrating
advanced computer, high speed networks, and electronic
can improve the national information infrastructure for use by
Kapor [Page 1]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
Americans. (1)
As currently envisioned, the
would connect more than one million people at more than
thousand colleges, universities, laboratories, and
throughout the country, giving them access to computing power
information -- resources unavailable anywhere today -- and
possible the rapid proliferation of a truly nationwide,
network... (2)
The combined demand of these users would develop innovative
services and further stimulate demand for existing
applications. Library information services, for example,
already grown dramatically on the NREN's predecessor, the Internet
because
enhanced connectivity permits scholars and researchers
communicate in new and different ways.... Clearly, to
successful, effective, and of use to the academic and
communities, the NREN must be designed to nurture and
both the current as will as future yet unknown uses of
information resources. (3)
So as the NREN implementation process progresses, it is vital
the opportunities to stimulate innovative new
technologies be kept in mind, along with the specific needs of
mission agencies which will come to depend on the network
Far from evolving into the whole of the National Public
itself, the NREN is best thought of as a prototype for the NPN,
will emerge over time from the phone system, cable television,
many computer networks. But the NREN is a growth site which,
privately controlled systems, can be consciously shaped to
public needs. For a wide variety of services, some of which
not be commercially viable at the outset, the NREN
provide selective access that proves feasibility and leads to
creation of a commercial infrastructure that can support
services.... If we fully focus on ...[current] goals and work
way through a multitude of technical and operational issues in
process, then the success of the NREN will fully support
extension to broader uses in the years to follow. (4)
In order to function as an effective test-bed, one that
broad access to a range of innovative, developing services, the
must be built so that it is easy for developers to offer new kinds
applications, and is accessible to a diversity of users.
Kapor [Page 2]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
example, to encourage the development of creative, advanced
services, it must be easy for libraries to open their data bases
users all across the network. And if these library services are
flourish through the NREN, then the services must be available
researchers and students all over the country, through a variety
channels. Though the NREN itself is intended to meet
supercomputing and networking needs of the government-
research community, Congress has wisely recognized that it can
function as a channel for delivery of a wide range of privately
developed information services.
encourage use of the Network by commercial information
providers, where technically feasible, the Network shall
accounting mechanisms which allow, where appropriate, users
groups of users to be charged for their usage of
materials over the Network. (5)
Congress can create an environment that stimulates
entrepreneurship by mandating that the NREN rely on open
standards whose specifications are not controlled by any
parties and which are freely available for all to use. Such non
proprietary standards will ensure that different parts of the
built and operated by independent parties, will all work
properly. By employing widely-used, non-proprietary standards
NREN will make it easy for new information providers to offer
wares on the network. The market will snowball: as more services
offered, more users will be attracted, who will increase
demand. The NREN will also be a test-bed for development
experimentation with new networking standards that facilitate
broader, more efficient interconnection than now possible on
Internet. But throughout the stages of the NREN, all
should be sure that these functionalities are fostered
The NREN design and construction process is complex and will
significant effects on future communications infrastructure design
Building the NREN has frequently been described as akin
building a house, with various layers of the network
compared to parts of the house. In an expanded view of
analogy, planning the NII [national information infrastructure]
like designing a large, urban city
The NREN is a big new subdivision on the edge of the metropolis
reserved for researchers and educators. It is going to be
first and is going to look lonely out there in the middle of
pasture for a while. But the city will grow up around it in time
and as construction proceeds, the misadventures encountered in
NREN subdivision will not have to be repeated in others.
Kapor [Page 3]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
there will be many house designs, not just those the NREN
are comfortable with.... The lessons we learn today in
the NREN will be used tomorrow in building the NII. (6)
The coming implementation and design of the NREN offers us a
opportunity to shape a small but important part of the
Public Network
At its best, the National Public Network would be the source
immense social benefits. As a means of increasing
cohesiveness, while retaining the diversity that is an
strength, the network could help revitalize this country's
and culture. As Senator Gore has said, the new national network
is emerging is one of the "smokestack industries of the
age." (7) It will increase the amount of individual participation
common enterprise and politics. It could also galvanize a new set
relationships -- business and personal -- between Americans and
rest of the world
The names and particular visions of the emerging
infrastructure vary from one observer to another. (8) Senator
calls it the "National Information Superhighway." Prof.
Dertouzos imagines a "National Information Infrastructure [which] ...
would be a common resource of computer-communications services,
easy to use and as important as the telephone network, the
power grid, and the interstate highways." (9) I call it the
Public Network (NPN), in recognition of the vital role
technology has come to play in public life and all that it has
offer, if designed with the public good in mind
To what uses can we reasonably expect people to use a National
Network? We don't know. Indeed, we probably can't know -- the
of the network will surprise us. That's exactly what happened in
early days of the personal computer industry, when the
spreadsheet program, VisiCalc, spurred sales of the Apple
computer. Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak did not
the spreadsheet; they did not even conceive of it. They created
platform which allowed someone else to bring the spreadsheet
being, and all the parties profited as a result, including the users
Based on today's systems, however, we can make a few educated
about the National Public Network. We know that, like the telephone
it will serve both business and recreation needs, as well as
crucial community services. Messaging will be popular: time and
again, from the ARPAnet to Prodigy, people have surprised
planners with their eagerness to exchange mail. "Mail" will not
Kapor [Page 4]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
mean voice and text, but also pictures and video -- no doubt
many new variations. One might imagine two people poring over
manuscript from opposite ends of the country, marking it
simultaneously and seeing each others' markings appear on the screen
We know from past demand on the Internet and commercial
computer networks that the network will be used for
assembly -- virtual town halls, village greens, and coffee houses
again taking place not just through shared text (as in today'
computer networks), but with multi-media transmissions,
images, voice, and video. Unlike the telephone, this network
also be a publications medium, distributing electronic newsletters
video clips, and interpreted reports. (10)
We can speculate but cannot be sure about novel uses of the network
An information marketplace will include electronic invoicing
billing, listing, brokering, advertising, comparison-shopping,
matchmaking of various kinds. "Video on demand" will not just
ordering current movies, as if they were spooling down from the
videotape store, but opening floodgates to vast new amounts
independent work, with high quality thanks to plummeting prices
professional-quality desktop video editors. Customers will grow
to dialing up two-minute demos of homemade videos before ordering
full program and storing it on their own blank tape
There will be other important uses of the network as a
medium for experiences which are impossible to obtain in the
world. If scientists want to explore the surface of a molecule
they'll do it in simulated form, using wrap-around three-
animated graphics that create a convincing illusion of being in
physical place. This visualization of objects from molecules
galaxies is already becoming an extraordinarily powerful
tool. Networks will amplify this power to the point that
simulation tools take their place as fundamental scientific
alongside microscopes and telescopes. Less exotically, a consumer
student might walk around the inside of a working internal
engine -- without getting burned
Perhaps the most significant change the National Public Network
afford us is a new mode of building communities -- as the telephone
radio, and television did. People often think of
"communities" as far-flung communities of interest between
of a particular discipline. But we are learning, through
like the PEN system in Santa Monica and the Old Colorado City
in Colorado Springs, that digital media can serve as a local nexus
an evanescent meeting-ground, that adds levels of texture
relationships between people in a particular locale. As Jerry
of the ACLU Information Technology Project has said
Kapor [Page 5]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
Computer and communications technologies are transforming
into electronic formats and shifting the locus of the
of ideas from traditional public places to the new
public forums established over telephone, cable, and
electronic communications networks. (11)
To both local and long-distance communities, accessible
communications will be increasingly important; by the end of
decade, the "body politic," the "body social," and the "
commercial" of this country will depend on a nervous system
fiber-optic lines and computer switches
But whatever details of the vision and names gives to the
product, a network that is responsive to a wide spectrum of
needs will not evolve by default. Just as it is necessary for
architect to know how to make a home suitable for human habitation
it is necessary to consider how humans will actually use the
in order to design it
In that spirit, I offer a set of recommendations for the evolution
the National Public Network. I first encountered many of
fundamental ideas underlying these proposals in the
networking community. Some of these recommendations
immediate concerns; others are more long-term. There is a focus
the role of public access and commercial experiments in the NREN
which complement its research and education mission.
recommendations are organized here according to the main needs
they will serve: first ensuring that the design and use of
network remains open to diversity, second, safeguarding the
of users. The ultimate goal is to develop a habitable, usable
sustainable system -- a nation of electronic neighborhoods
people will feel comfortable living within
I. Encourage Competition Among
In the context of the NREN, act now to create a level and
playing field for private network carriers, (whether for-profit
not-for-profit) to compete. Do not give a monopoly to any carrier
The growing network must be a site where competitive energy
innovation for the public benefit, not the refuge of monopolists
The post-divestiture phone system offers us a valuable lesson:
telecommunications network can be managed effectively by
companies -- even including bitter opponents like AT&T and MCI --
long as they can connect equitably and seamlessly from the user'
standpoint. The deregulated telecommunications system may not
perfectly and may produce too much litigation, but it does work.
Kapor [Page 6]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
should never go back to any monopoly arrangement like the pre
divestiture AT&T which held back market-driven innovation
telecommunications for half a century. Given the
technology now available, we should never again have to accept
argument that we have to sacrifice interoperability for efficiency
reliability, or easy-of-use
Similarly, the NREN, and later the National Public Network, must
allowed to grow without being dominated by any single company
Contracting requirements in the current legislation advance
goal
The Network shall be established in a manner which fosters
maintains competition within the telecommunications industry
promotes the development of interconnected high-speed
networks by the private sector. (12)
Absent a truly competitive environment, a dominant carrier might
its privileged access to stifle competitors unfairly: "Use our
service to connect to our undersea international links, without
$3 surcharge we tack on for other carriers." The greatest danger
"balkanization" -- in which the net is broken up into islands,
developing separately, without enough interconnecting bridges
satisfy users' desires for universal connectivity.
interoperability requirements and adherence to standards must
built into the design of the NREN from the outset. (13)
After 1992, private companies will manage an ever-greater share
the NREN cables and switches. The NSF should use both carrot
stick to encourage as much interconnection as possible. For example
the NSF could make funding to NREN backbone carriers contingent
participation in an internetwork exchange agreement that would
as a framework for a standards-based environment. As the NREN
implemented, some formal affirmation of fair access is needed --
ideally by an "Internet Exchange Association" formed to settle
rules and standards. (Their efforts, if strong enough,
forestall a costly, wasteful crazy-quilt of new regulations from
FCC and 50 State Public Utilities Commissions.) This
should decide upon a "basket" of standard services --
messaging, directories, international connections, access
information providers, billing, and probably more -- that
guaranteed for universal interconnection. The Commercial
Exchange (CIX) formed in 1991 by three commercial inter-
carriers represents a substantive, initial move in this direction
Kapor [Page 7]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
II. Create an Open Platform for
Encourage information entrepreneurship through an open
(non-proprietary) platform, with low barriers to entry
information providers
The most valuable contribution of the computer industry in the
generation is not a machine, but an idea -- the principle of
architecture. Typically, a hardware company (an Apple or IBM,
instance) neither designs its own applications software nor
licenses of its application vendors. Both practices were the norm
the mainframe era of computing. Instead, in the personal
market, the hardware company creates a "platform" -- a common set
specifications, published openly so that other, often smaller
independent firms can develop their own products (like
spreadsheet program) to work with it. In this way, the host
takes advantage of the smaller companies' ingenuity and creativity
Even interfaces rigidly controlled by a single manufacturer, like
Macintosh, embrace the platform concept. Two years ago, when
began planning the System 7 release of its Macintosh
system, one of its first steps was to invite comment from
companies like Macromind, Aldus, Silicon Beach, and T/Maker.
substantive, sometimes very argumentative sessions, Apple
the capabilities it planned to these independents, who knew
customers and needs much better than Apple. One multi-media company
after arguing that Apple should take a different technical turn
actually found itself doing the work in a joint project. The
useful job of Apple's famous "evangelists" is not selling the
specs, but listening to outsiders, and helping Apple itself
flexible enough to work with independent innovators effectively
In the design of the NREN, information entrepreneurship can best
promoted by building with open standards, and by making the
attractive to as many service providers and developers as possible
The standards adopted must meet the needs of a broad range of users
not just narrow needs of the mission agencies that are
for overseeing the early stages of the NREN. Positive efforts
be made to encourage the development of experimental
services of all kinds without requiring the negotiation of
bureaucratic procedures
In the early stages of development of an industry, low barriers
entry stimulate competition. They enable a very large initial set
products for consumers to choose from. Out of these the market
learn to ignore almost all in order to standardize on a few, such
a Lotus 1-2-3. The winners will be widely emulated in the
generation of products, which will in turn generate a more
Kapor [Page 8]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
form of marketplace feedback. In this fashion, early chaos
quickly a set of high-demand products and product categories
This process of market-mediated innovation is best catalyzed
creating an environment in which it is inexpensive and easy
entrepreneurs to develop products. The greater the number
independent enterprises, each of which puts at voluntary risk
intellectual and economic capital of risk-takers, is the best way
find out what the market really wants. The businesses which
in this are the ones which will prosper
It is worthwhile to note that not a single major PC software
today dates from the mainframe era. Yesterday's garage shop
today's billion-dollar enterprise. Policies for the NPN
therefore not only accommodate existing information
interests, but anticipate and promote the next generate
entrepreneurs
The diverse needs of these many users will create demand
thousands of information proprietors on the net, just as there
thousands of producers of personal computer software today
thousands of publishers of books and magazines. It should be as
to provide an information service as to order a business telephone
Large and small information providers will probably coexist as
do in book publishing, where the players range from multi-billion
dollar international conglomerates to firms whose head office is
kitchen table. They can coexist because everyone has access
production and distribution facilities -- printing presses
typography, and the U.S. mails and delivery services -- on a non
discriminatory basis. In fact, the sub-commercial print
are an ecological breeding ground, through which mainstream
and editors rise. No one can guarantee when an application as
as the spreadsheet will emerge for the NPN (as it did for
computers), but open architecture is the best way for it to
and let it spread when it does
The PC revolution was brought about without direct public support
Entrepreneurs risked their investors' capital for the sake
opportunity. Some succeeded, but many others lost their
investment. This is the way of the marketplace. We should take
much more cautious attitude about the commitment of public monies
In the absence of proven demand for new applications,
should not be spending billions of dollars on the creation
broadband networks. Neither should telephone companies be allowed
pass on the costs of the NPN in a way which would raise the rates
ordinary voice telephone service
Instead, we should position the NREN to show there is a market
Kapor [Page 9]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
network applications. The commercial experiments just beginning
the Internet provides one source of innovation. Deployment of
national ISDN platform in the next few years represents
relatively inexpensive seed bed. As such experiments
more of a proven demand for public network services, it should
possible for the private sector to make the investments to build
broadband NPN using experience from the NREN
At the same time as the NREN is being debated and developed
telephone companies continue to push at the limits imposed on them
the "Modification of Final Judgment" (MFJ) of divestiture, the 1982
anti-trust agreement which split up the Bell system. (14)
pressure from the D.C. Court of Appeals, Judge Greene recently
the information services restrictions on the BOCs -- despite
competitive tension between the telephone companies, cable
carriers, and newspapers. Thus, in the next year or so, Congress
well be forced to define a new set of rules for
telecommunications. (15) Like the AT&T divestiture decision,
would represent a fundamental shift in national policy with
and unpredictable consequences
Many consumer and industry groups are concerned that as the
restrictions are lifted, the RBOCs will come to dominate the
of the emerging National Public Network, shaping it more
accommodate their business goals than the public interest.
Communications Policy Forum, a coalition of public interest
industry groups, has recently begun to consider what kinds
safeguards will be needed to maintain a competitive
services market that allows RBOC participation. The role that
RBOCs come to play in the nation's telecommunications
is, of course, an issue that must be carefully considered on its own
But in this context, the NREN represents a critical opportunity
create a model for what a public network has to offer, free
commercial pressures
With all of the uncertainty that surrounds the RBOCs entry into
information services market, we should use the NREN to learn how
develop a network environment where competitive entry is easy
that the RBOCs opportunity to engage in anti-competitive
would be minimized. There is evidence that the RBOCs are
attempts to transform the public telephone system into a truly
public network (16) notwithstanding the FCCs stated intention
implement Open Network Architecture. (17) But since the
standards and procedures can be designed away from the dominance
the RBOCs, a fully open network design is within reach. In
sense the NREN can be a test-bed for "safeguards" against
abuse just as it is a test ground for new technical standards
innovative network applications
Kapor [Page 10]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
An open platform network model carrier from the NREN to the
Public Network would actually make some MFJ restrictions
necessary. Phone companies were originally prohibited from
information providers because their bottleneck control over the
exchange hubs gives them an unfair advantage. But on a network
which the local switch is open to information providers --
the platform itself is so rich and well-designed -- creativity
quality triumph over monopoly power. Instead of
information providers, the National Public Network developers
encourage the entry of as many new parties as possible. Just
personal computer companies started in garages and attics, so
tomorrow's information entrepreneurs, if we give them a chance
Their prototypes today, small computer networks,
newsletters, and chat lines, are among the most vibrant
imaginative "publishers" in the world
III. Encourage Pricing for Universal
Everyone agrees in the abstract with universal service -- the
that any individual who wishes should be able to connect to
National Public Network. But that's only a platitude
accompanied by an inclusive pricing plan
The importance of extending universal access to information
communication resources has been widely recognized
In light of the possibilities for new service offerings by
21st century, as well as the growing importance
telecommunications and information services to US economic
social development, limiting our concept of universal service
the narrow provision of basic voice telephone service no
services the public interest. Added to universal basic
service should be the broader concept of universal opportunity
access these new technologies and applications. (18)
The problem of disparate access to information resources has
recognized in other telecommunications arenas as well.
Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Subcommittee
Telecommunications and Finance of the House Energy and
Committee warns that
[i]nformation services are beginning to proliferate.
challenge before us is how to make them available swiftly to
largest number of Americans at costs which don't divide
society into information haves and havenots and in a manner
does not compromise our adherence to the long-cherished
of diversity, competition and common carriage. (19)
Kapor [Page 11]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
To address this problem in the long-term, there is legislation
pending which would broaden the guarantee of universal phone
to universal access to advanced telecommunications services.
Burns has proposed that the universal service guarantee statement
the Communications Act of 1934 should be amended to include access
a nation-wide, advanced, interactive, interoperable,
communications system available to all people, businesses
services, organizations, and households..." (20)
In the near term, the NREN can serve as a laboratory for testing
variety of pricing and access schemes in order to determine how
to bring basic network services to large numbers of users. The
platform should facilitate the offering of fee-based services
individuals
Cable TV is one good model: joining a service requires an
of $100 for a TV set, which 99% of households already own, about $50
for a cable hookup, and perhaps $15 per month in basic service
Anything beyond that, like premium movie channels or pay-per-
is available at extra cost. Similarly, a carrier providing
to the mature National Public Network might charge a one-time
fee and then a low fixed monthly rate for access to basic services
which would include a voice telephone capability
Because regulators are concerned about any telephone service
might cause the price of basic voice service to rise, they
unwilling to approve new services which don't immediately
their own costs. They are concerned that any deficit will be
on to consumers in the form of higher charges for standard services
As a result, telephone companies tend to be very conservative
estimating the demand for new services. Prices for new services
out to be much higher than what would be required for
digital service. This is a kind of catch-22, in which lower
won't be set until demand goes up, but demand will never go up
prices aren't low enough
Open architecture could help phone companies offer lower rates
digital services. If opportunities and incentives exist
information entrepreneurs, they will create the services which
stimulate demand, increase volume, and create more revenue-
traffic for the carriers. In a competitive market, with
volumes, lower prices follow
Kapor [Page 12]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
IV. Make the Network Simple to
The ideal means of accessing the NPN will not be a personal
as we know it today, but a much simpler, streamlined
appliance - a hybrid of the telephone and the computer
"Transparency" is the Holy Grail of software designers. When
program is perfectly transparent, people forget about the fact
they are using a computer. The mechanics of the program no
intrude on their thoughts. The most successful computer programs
nearly always transparent: a spreadsheet, for instance, is as self
evident as a ledger page. Once users grasp a few concepts (like rows
cells, and formula relationships), they can say to themselves
"What's in cell A-6?" without feeling that they are using an
language
Personal computer communications, by contrast, are
opaque. Users must be aware of baud rates, parity, duplex, and
transfer protocols -- all of which a reasonably well-designed
could handle for them. It's as if, every time you wanted to drive
the store, you had to open up the hood and adjust the sparkplugs.
most Internet systems, it's even worse; newcomers find
confronting what John Perry Barlow calls a "savage user interface."
Messages bounce, conferencing commands are confusing, headers
like gibberish, none of it is documented, and nobody seems to care
The excitement about being part of an extended community
vanishes. On a National Public Network, this invites failure.
without the time to invest in learning arcane commands would
not participate. The network would become needlessly exclusionary
Part of the NREN goal of "expand[ing] the number of researchers
educators, and students with ... access to high performance
resources" (21) is to make all network applications easy-to-use.
the experience of the personal computer industry has shown, the
way to bring information resources to large numbers of people is
simple, easy-to-learn tools. The NREN can be a place where
approaches to user-friendly networks are tested and evaluated
Technically trained people are not troglodytes; they approve
human-oriented design, even as they manage to use the network
without it. For years, leaders within the Internet community
been taking steps to improve ease of use on the network. But
training of the technical community as a whole has given them
practice making their digital artifacts appropriate for non-
consumption. Nor are they often rewarded for doing so. To a
company engineer designing a new high-speed telephone switch, or to
computer scientist pushing the limits of a data
algorithm, the notion of making electronic mail as simple as
Kapor [Page 13]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
machine may make sense, but it also feels like someone else's job
Being technically minded themselves, they feel comfortable with
specialized software they use and seldom empathize with the neophyte
The result is a proliferation of arcane, clumsy tools in
hardware and software, defended by the cognoscenti: "I use the "vi
editor all the time -- why would anyone have trouble with it?"
If we have the vision and commitment to try this, the
of the network frontier from wilderness to civilization need
display the brutality of 19th century imperialism. As
opportunities to offer applications and services develop
entrepreneurs will discover that ease of use sells. The normal
sometimes slow, play of competitive markets should cause industry
commit the resources to serve the market by making access
transparent. But at the start transparency will need
encouragement -- if only to overcome the inertia of old habits
V. Develop Standards of Information
The National Public Network will need an integrated suite of high
level standards for the exchange of richly formatted and
information, whether as text, graphics, sound, or moving images.
the NREN as a test-bed for a variety of information presentation
exchange standards on the road towards an internationally-
set of standards for the National Public Network
Standards -- the internal language of networks -- are arranged in
series of layers. The lower levels detail how the networks
subterranean "wiring" and "plumbing" is managed. Well-developed
of lower-level standards such as TCP/IP are in wide use and
to be refined and extended, but these alone are not sufficient.
uppermost layers contain specifications such as how text appears
the screen and the components of which documents are composed.
are the kinds of concerns which are directly relevant to users
wish to communicate. Recently independent efforts to develop high
level standards for document formats have begun, but these
are not yet being integrated into computer networks
Today, for example, the only common standard for computer text is
American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII).
ASCII is inadequate; it ignores fonts, type styles (like boldface
italics), footnotes, headers, and other formats which
regularly use. Each word processing program codes these
differently, and there is still no intermediary language that
accommodate all of them. The National Public Network will need such
language to transcend the visual poverty and monotony of today'
telecommunicated information. It will also need additional
beyond what have been developed for message addresses and headers,
Kapor [Page 14]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
common set of directories (the equivalent of the familiar white
and yellow pages directories), common specifications for coding
decoding images, and standards for other major services
Congress has provided that the National Institute of Standards
shall adopt standards and guidelines ... for the
of high-performance computers in networks and for common
interfaces to systems. (22)
As the implementation of the NREN moves forward, we must ensure
standards development remains both a public and private priority
Failure to make a commitment to an environment with robust
would be "the beginning of a Tower of Babel that we can ill afford."
(23) Since current standards are so inadequate to the demands
users
We ... need to endow the NII [National Information Infrastructure
with a set of widely understood common communication conventions
Moreover, these conventions should be based on concepts that
life easier for us humans, rather than for our computer servants
(24) The development of standards is vital, not just because
helps ensure an open platform for information providers; it
makes the network easier to use
VI. Promote First Amendment Free Expression
Affirming the Principles of Common
In a society which relies more and more on electronic
media as its primary conduit for expression, full support for
Amendment values requires extension of the common carrier
to all of these new media
Common carriers are companies which provide conduit services for
general public. They include railroads, trucking companies,
airlines as well as telecommunications firms. A
common carrier, such as a telephone company is required to
its services on a non-discriminatory basis. It has no liability
the content of any transmission. A telephone company does not
itself with the content of a phone call. Neither can it
deny service to anyone. (25) The common carrier's duties
evolved over hundreds of years in the common law and later
provisions. The rules governing their conduct can be
distilled in a few basic principles. (26) Common carriers have
duty to
o provide services in a non-discriminatory manner at a
Kapor [Page 15]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
o interconnect with other
o provide adequate
The carriers of the NREN and the National Public Network,
telephone companies, cable television companies, or other
should be treated in a similar fashion. (27)
Unlike many other countries, our communications infrastructure
owned by private corporations instead of by the government.
Congress' plan to build the NREN with services from privately-
carriers, a legislatively-imposed duty of common carriage
necessary to protect free expression effectively. As Professor
Noam, a former New York State Public Utility Commissioner, explains
[C]ommon carriage is the practical analog to [the] First
for electronic speech over privately-owned networks, where
First Amendment does not necessarily govern directly. (28)
To foster free expression and move the national
infrastructure toward a full common carrier regime, all NREN
should be subject to common carriage obligations. Given that
NREN is designed to promote the development of science, ensuring
expression is especially important. As on academic said
I share with many researchers strong belief that much of the
of science (whether practiced by scientists, engineers,
clinical researchers) derives from the steadfast commitment
free and unfettered communication of information and knowledge
(29)
A telecommunications providers under a common carrier
would have to carry any legal message regardless of its
whether it is voice, data, images, or sound. For example, if
common carrier protections were in place for all of the
services offered by the phone company, the terminations
"controversial" 900 services such as political fundraising would
be allowed, just as the phone company is now prohibited by
Communications Act from discriminating in the provision of
telephone services. (30) Neither BOCs not IXCs would be allowed
terminate service because of anticipated harm to their "
image." Though providers of 900 information services did have
freedom of expression abridged by the BOC/IXC action, First
protection was not available to them because there was no
action underlying the termination
As important as common carriage is to the NPN, it is
important that it be implemented in such a way as to avoid
Kapor [Page 16]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
the carriers of these new networks into the same regulatory
that characterizes much of telecommunications regulation. (31)
would have a crippling effect of the pace of innovation and is to
avoided. The controlled environment of the NREN should be
advantage of to experiment with various open access, common
rules and enforcement mechanisms to seek regulatory
other than what has evolved in the public telephone
Along with promoting free expression, common carriage rules
important for ensuring a competitive market in information
on the National Public Network. Our society supports the
of many thousands of periodicals and fifty thousand of new books
year as well as countless brochures, mailings, and other
communications. Historically, the expense of
professional-quality video programming has been a barrier to
creation of similar diversity in video. Now the same advances
computing which created desktop publishing are delivering "
video" which will make it affordable for the smallest business
agency, or group to create video consumables. The NPN
incorporate a distribution system of individual choice for the
explosion
If the cable company wants to offer a package of program channels,
should be free to do so. But so should anyone else. There
continue to be major demand for mass market video entertainment,
the vision of the NPN should not be limited to this form of content
Anyone who wishes to offer services to the public should
guaranteed access over the same fiber optic cable under the
of common carriage. From this access will come the
innovation, and this innovation will create the new forms of
that exploit the interactive, multimedia capabilities of the NPN
VII. Protect Personal
The infrastructure of the NPN should include mechanisms that
the privacy of information and communication. Building the NREN
an opportunity to test various data encryption schemes and
their effectiveness for a variety of communications needs
Technologies have been developed over the past 20 years which
people to safeguard their own privacy. One tool is public-
encryption, in which an "encoding" key is published freely, while
"decoder" is kept secret. People who wish to receive
information give out their public key, which senders use to
messages. Only the possessor of the private key has the ability
decipher the meaning
The privacy of telephone conversations and electronic mail is
Kapor [Page 17]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
protected by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. (32)
a valid court order, for example, wiretaps of phone conversations
illegal and private messages are inadmissible in court.
guarantees are not enough, however. Although it is
illegal to listen in on cellular telephone conversations, as
practical matter the law is unenforceable. Imported scanners
of receiving all 850 cellular channels are widely available
the gray market
Cellular telephone transmissions are carried on radio waves
travel through the open air. The ECPA provision which makes
illegal to eavesdrop on a cellular call is the wrong means to
right end. It sets a dangerous precedent in which, for the
time, citizens are denied the right to listen to open
transmissions. In this case, technology provides a better solution
Privacy protection would be greatly enhanced if public-key
technology were built into the entire range of digital devices,
telephones to computers. (33) The best way to secure the privacy
confidentiality Americans say they want is through a combination
legal and technical methods
As a system over which not only information but also money will
transferred, the National Public Network will have enormous
for privacy abuse. Some of the dangers could be forestalled now
building in provisions for security from the beginning
The chance to influence the shape of a new medium usually
when it is too late: when the medium is frozen in place. Today
because of the gradual evolution of the National Public Network,
the unusual awareness people have of its possibilities, there is
rare opportunity to shape this new medium in the public interest
without sacrificing diversity or financial return. As with
computers, the public interest is also the route to
profitability for nearly all participants in the long run
The major obstacle is obscurity: technical telecommunications
are so complex that people don't realize their importance to
and political relationships. But be this as it may, these issues
of paramount importance to the future of this society. Decisions
plans for the NPN are too crucial to be left to special interests
If we act now to be inclusive rather than exclusive in the design
the NPN we can create an open and free electronic community
America. To fail to do so, and to lose this opportunity, would
tragic
Kapor [Page 18]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
End
1. High Performance Computing and Communications Act of 1991, H.
656, S.272 section 2(6).
2. High-Performance Computing And Communications Act of 1991:
Hearing before the Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space
the Senate Comm. on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, 102
Cong., 1st Sess. 1 (1991)(Opening Statement by
Gore)(hereinafter 1991 Senate NREN Hearing).
3. 1991 Senate NREN Hearing 101, 103 (Statement of the
of Research Libraries).
4. 1991 Senate NREN Hearing 99 (Statement of Dr. Kenneth M. King
President, EDUCOM).
5. S.272 (Commerce-Energy compromise) section 102(e
6. Michael M. Roberts, Positioning the National Research
Education Network. EDUCOM Magazine 13 (Summer 1991).
7. 1991 Senate NREN Hearing 1 (Opening statement of Sen. Gore).
8. Details of the visions vary in their content and expression
Senator Gore's bill mandates that federal agencies will serve
information providers, side by side with commercial services,
(for instance) government-created information available to the
over the network. Individuals will gain "access to supercomputers
computer data bases, other research facilities, and libraries." (
imagines junior high school students dialing in to the Library
Congress to look up facts for a term paper.) Apple CEO John
has predicted that "knowledge navigators" will use personal
to travel through realms of virtual information via public
networks
Such visions are powerful, but they sometimes seem too much
sales tools; too vague and overconfident to set direction
research. People often infer from the Apple's "knowledge navigator
videotape, for instance, that human-equivalent computer
recognition is just around the corner; but in truth, it
requires fundamental research breakthroughs. Network users will
need keyboards or pointing devices for many years. Nor will
network be able (as some have suggested) to translate
between languages. (It will allow translators to work
effectively, posting their work online.)
9. M. Dertouzos, Building the Information Marketplace,
Kapor [Page 19]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
Review 29, 30 (January 1991).
10. See FCC Hearing on "Networks of the Future" (Testimony of M
Kapor)(May 1, 1991).
11. J. Berman, Democratizing the Electronic Frontier,
Address, Third Annual Hawaii Information Network and
Symposium, June 5, 1991.
12. S.272, section 5(d). This section continues: "(1) to the
extent possible, operating facilities need for the Network should
procured on a competitive basis from private industry; (2)
agencies shall promote research and development leading to
of commercial data communications and telecommunications standards
and (3) the Network shall be phased into commercial operation
commercial networks can meet the needs of American researchers
educators."
13. The distinction between strong support for interoperability
something less is illustrated in the NREN compromise debate
as this paper is being written. The bill from the Senate
Committee (S.272) calls for "interoperability among
networks," section 701(a)(6)(A), while the compromise currently
discussed with the Energy Committee adopts a more watered down
of "software availability, productivity, capability, portability."
section 701(a)(3)(B).
14. 552 F.Supp 151 (D.D.C. 1982)(Greene, J.). The MFJ
barred the BOCs from providing long distance services,
manufacturing telephone equipment, and from providing
services
15. The Senate, under the leadership of Sen. Hollings, has
recently voted to lift the manufacturing restrictions against
BOCs contained in the MFJ
16. In The Matter of Advanced Intelligent Network, Petition
Investigation, filed by Coalition of Open Network
Parties (November 16, 1990).
17. Amendment of Sections 64.702 of the Commission's Rules
Regulations, 104 FCC 2d 958 (COMPUTER III), vacated sub nom
California v. FCC (9th Cir. 1990).
18. NTIA Telecomm 2000 at 79.
19. Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee
Telecommunications and Finance, Hearings on Modified Final Judgment
Kapor [Page 20]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
101st Cong., 1st Sess., 1-2 (May 4, 1989).
20. Communications Competitiveness and Infrastructure
Act of 1991, S. 1200, Title I, Amending Communications Act section 1,
47 USC 151.
21. S.272, section 2(b)(1)(B).
22. S.272 Commerce-Energy Compromise section 203(a).
23. 1991 Senate NREN Hearing at 32 (Statement of Hon. D.
Bromley, Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy).
24. M. Dertouzos at 31.
25. See 47 USC section 201.
26. See ACLU Information Technology Project, Report to the
Civil Liberties Board from the Communications Media Committee
Accompany Proposed Policy Relating To Civil Liberties Goals
Requirements of the United States Communications
Infrastructure. (Draft, July 15, 1991) [hereinafter, ACLU Report].
"Non-discriminatory access to new communications systems must
guaranteed not simply because it is the economically efficient
to do, but more importantly because it is the only way to ensure
freedom of expression is preserved in the Information Age."
27. Though common carriage principles have historically been
to telephone and telegraph systems, the preservation of
Amendment values of free expression and free press was not
motivating factor. Professor de Sola Pool notes that telephone
telegraph systems inherited their common carrier obligations not
much out of First Amendment concerns, but in order to
commerce. The more appropriate model to look to in extending
Amendment values to new communications technologies is the mails.
reflected in the post clause, empowering Congress to "establish
offices and post roads," the Constitutional drafters felt
creation of a robust postal system was vital in order to ensure
expression and healthy political debate. As Sen. John Calhoun
in 1817:
Let us conquer space. It is thus that . . . a citizen of the
will read the news of Boston still moist from the press. The
and the press are the nerves of the body politic
Non-discriminatory access to the mails has been secured by
Supreme Court as a vital extension of First Amendment expression.
a dissent which is now reflective of current law, Justice
Kapor [Page 21]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
argued
[t]he United States may give up the Post Office when it sees fit
but while it carries it on the use of the mails is almost as
a part of free speech as the right to use our tongues. (
Social Democratic Publishing Co. v. Burleson, 255 US 407 (1921)
(Holmes, J., dissenting)(emphasis added). This principle
finally affirmed in Hannegan v. Esquire, 327 US 146 (1945) (
in de Sola Pool).
See de Sola Pool, Technologies of Freedom 77-107.
28. E. Noam, FCC Hearing "Networks of the Future" (May 1, 1991).
29. 1991 Senate NREN Hearing at 52 (Statement of Donald Langenberg
Chancellor of the University of Maryland System).
30. 47 USC section 201. Following much controversy about obscene
indecent dial-a-message services, a number of BOCs and
carriers (IXCs, ie. MCI, Sprint, etc.) have adopted policies
limit the kinds of information services for which they will
billing and collection services. Recently, some carriers have
so far as to refuse to carry the services at all, even if the
handles its own billing. See ACLU Report
31. See J. Berman & W. Miller, Communications Policy Overview 14-24,
Communications Policy Forum (April 1991).
32. Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, 18 USC 2510
seq. See also J. Berman & J. Goldman, A Federal Right of
Privacy: The Need for Reform, Benton Foundation Project
Communications & Information Policy Options (1989).
33. See Statement In Support Of Communications Privacy,
1991 Cryptography and Privacy Conference, sponsored by
Frontier Foundation, Computer Professionals for
Responsibility, and RSA Software. (June 10, 1990).
Kapor [Page 22]
RFC 1259 Building The Open Road September 1991
Security
Security issues are not discussed in this memo
Author's
Mitchell
Electronic Frontier
155 Second
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: (617) 864-1550
EMail: mkapor@eff.
Kapor [Page 23]
if you see any problems within the linking, don't worry be happy,
this is version 0.1 of the Relevance System and you gotta expect some crappy subroutines sometimes,
just be content we did not write this in Java, which would have made this "bigger and better" HAHAHHA.
RFC documents can be found at I.E.T.F.
Relevance System Copyright © 2002 Spectrum WorldResearch
other technical nosh by ServerMasters Corporation
collaboration of BobX
