From: azur@netcom.com (Steve Schear)
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 18:25:27 -0800 (PST)
To: "Attila T. Hun" <attila@primenet.com>
Subject: Re: greed and the internet
Message-ID: <v02140b00af0d4dfc5cda@[10.0.2.15]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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>        The Internet will no no longer be the peoples net, and the
>    commercial greedies are establishing a faster, more secure
>    network with controlled access points; leaving the common man's
>    access in the mud, still paying the exorbitant rates on a pay
>    before play basis.  That, and it gives control of information to
>    the government --which, as we all know. is 'heavenly white'
>    -above sin.
>

Rather than being forced by pressures from the market, smaller ISPs appear
to be holding their own and in many cases thriving.  A significant number
of them have begun to form their own cooperatives to operate mini-NAPs,
mosty to aggregate local traffic and reduce unnecessary traffic to the
NAPs.  It isn't too far a stretch to envision that should this practive
become commonplace, these smaller ISPs could band together to create their
own Net overlay, bypassing the NAPs. This trend could spell trouble for
gov't agencies expecting to monitor Net traffic from only a few convenient
locations (i.e., NAPs).

--Steve