Note: starts off-topic but manages to make itself on topic at the end! It all depends on what level you want to look at the monetary food chain as to "who pays for what". You could say that corporations pay people's salaries and therefore _they_ pay for the Net. But even that's not quite there... Ultimately, it all depends on what our money is and where it comes from. In the US, the main money, the US Dollar, comes from two sources: 1) The Feds and 2) Commercial Banks. [1] They just figure out how much money they want to create / make available and make it available at a specific loan rate. They're betting that the US won't disappear overnight. That's about the value of it. :) [2] Through a questionable accounting fiction called "fractional reserve banking", banks can lend a percentage of their money to others and still say that they "have" that money. So, they can re-loan an ever smaller and smaller chunk of that money, creating smaller and smaller amounts of new money at each iteration. BUT, [2] gets its original money from [1]. So, for the US anyway, assuming most everyone here pays for service using US dollars, the Net is ultimately paid for by the resilience of the US government. (some argue that the Federal Reserve System is independent of the US, but FRS wouldn't be around w/o USG). Since USG is government of, for, and by the people of the US, the US portion of the Net is paid for by the resilience and stability of its citizenry. -s p.s. - You can repeat this argument for any fiat money system comparable to the US system. On Wed, 2002-05-22 at 10:42, Micheal Sherrill wrote: > > Hooray for the little people. We ultimately pay for the domain names and the salaries of those that maintain them. We should have a say in how the organization is structured. Making it mandatory to purchase a domain name for eligibility into the club is just another slick way to stratify the Internet culture. In colonial times many American states required ownership of land to authenticate a person’s right to vote. It was a very efficient way to keep workers and slaves from having a say about the direction of their lives. The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. > > Regards, > > > Micheal Sherrill > > ---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- > From: eric@hi-tek.com > Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 23:04:08 -0700 > > Thank you Mr. Young, > > This is a very important point. Just as so many cannot purchase with a credit > card online they may have to verify locally. > > But we are very swiftly working on such mechanisms. From Hotel access, to > Postal access to Internet Cafe access we are but months away from making such > things a reality through land based verification and Internet registration. No > one knows whether a Chiapan farmer who comes in once a week to email his son in > Tucson Arizona, is real, better than the person running the access. (yes I use > extreme examples to get the point across) > But do not think yesterday or an election in July, think about two years from > now and the principal. > > I know that many of you do not want the stuppas like us voting. But we will be > here in two years still trying to get that vote. > > Maybe some of you will get the concept that you are very wise in the Internet > but my low level friends are very wise in knowing that they want to email their > children half an earth away. And that, stability in domain names helps that to > happen with ease. Remember the visions of the old telegraph man writing out and > then sending the message for the illiterate farmer, well invision it today with > the Internet. Marking our X may be nothing to you but to some of us it is huge > and quite a proud moment. Throughout history allowing the lowest personage to > vote has always elevated the community, please let that be the same here. > > Some have just completed a cleft palate and club foot surgical analysis program > using Internet technology, I understand that the program will help save dollars > through efficiency and therefor help more children. Thank you all for your > continued support of the Internet. > > Sincerely, > Eric > > Bruce Young wrote: > > > Vittorio Bertola wrote: > > > > >In fact, that's exactly what I am thinking of. The original ICANN > > >proposal was to identify people by having them register a domain name > > >and be listed on a WHOIS server - which was an unsecure method, costly > > >for the user, and easily capturable by registries and registrars > > >(though perhaps these were appreciable features for some of those who > > >drafted that proposal). > > > > Ya think?! :) > > > > The "domain name holder as user" idea was total illogic! I never bought the > > idea. > > > > > . . . we should employ a wide number of different authentication > > >methods, not necessarily PGP-based (as the target is much less technical). > > > > I agree. This PGP thing Manoj is working on sounds like the way to go in > > many areas. But where PGP is impractical, different methods that work best > > in the locale using them need to be considered. We need to avoid placing > > participation barriers in front of anyone. > > > > Bruce Young > > Portland, Oregon > > Bruce@barelyadequate.info > > http://www.barelyadequate.info > > -------------------------------------------- > > Support democratic control of the Internet! > > Go to http://www.icannatlarge.com and Join ICANN At Large! > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: atlarge-discuss-unsubscribe@lists.fitug.de > > For additional commands, e-mail: atlarge-discuss-help@lists.fitug.de > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: atlarge-discuss-unsubscribe@lists.fitug.de > For additional commands, e-mail: atlarge-discuss-help@lists.fitug.de > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: atlarge-discuss-unsubscribe@lists.fitug.de > For additional commands, e-mail: atlarge-discuss-help@lists.fitug.de >
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