🚀 go-pugleaf

On Wed, Jan 21, 1998 at 11:53:45PM -0500, Russell Nelson wrote:
> You're confusing the accomplishment of a task with the ownership of
> value.  When you work for someone, you create value.  For them.  Not
> yourself.  NSI was paid to maintain a database.  They did that.  Now
> their job is over.  They don't own the database.  The U.S. Government
> (which paid the piper) owns the value.

Not beyond September 95 they don't (which is when the Government STOPPED
paying the piper, and thus stopped having the ability and right to call the
tune).

There were only about 100,000 entries in the database at that time.

There are well over a million now.

Thus, perhaps 10% of the "value" is in fact the Government's.  But the
Government has 30%ish of the money through their (possibly improperly
levied) "tax" on names which goes into the infrastructure fund.

In other words, the Government was properly compensated - three times over -
for the value *they* created and owned by "the people".

What's left is NSIs.

I can't find a reasonable construction of the cooperative agreement terms
(that I'm aware of) nor of the outcome of the decision to decouple NSI from
NSF funding in September '95 that leads to any other conclusion than this.

--
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