🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <2705@aegis.or.jp> davidg@aegis.or.jp (Dave McLane) writes:
 |I'm not sure what usage rule of Japan-US you are speaking of. 

one more: Acceptable Use Policy imposed by NSFnet.

On your cost complaints: I am not responsible on InetClub issue, but
you should pay what you want to get, after all. If you don't want to
deal, quit and find something else - that's all I can say.

 |I've read where the underlying transport mechanism of the Internet
 |doesn't lend itself to charging according to who uses how much of
 |what. [...]

Your analogy on national highway system is interesting, but I guess
the actual reason why Internet is not imposing usage accounting is
that the cost of accounting itself is too high.

 |While Japan's system may be "fair" it will also be much more
 |expensive. And because of that expense only large companies or
 |Mombusho-supported universities will be able to use the Internet
 |which is the hidden agenda: keeping the information in the hands of
 |those in power. Not that this is said, or even thought of, but this
 |cultural assumption can be easily observed by just looking at the
 |structure of Japanese society. 

Information IS power indeed. And you have to pay for it. So I pay for
myself and trying to keep the power myself - although I am trying to
re-distribute some of them to others. 

Maybe from an American point of view Japan is not an open country. Or
it may be rather a closed country. But making things too open will
lead to a social chaos and a catastrophe. And Internet in Japan itself
is not at all "authorized" or "supported" by the government - so
you've got to be very careful on running it. The reason why access to
the Internet is so restricted in Japan is simple - no bandwidth, no
money, and no administrative organizations enough to support "a public
service". If you are going to make it a public service, NTT, KDD and
other telecom carriers will complain and try to intervene and that's
not what the key people running JUNET/WIDE and Internet in Japan want.

 |IMHO, Japan is at a crossroads. For the past 50 years it has gained
 |immense economic power and part of this has been to have lots of
 |information come in, and very little leave. But I think those days
 |have come to an end, and either Japan will need to become a fully
 |equal partner in sharing information or it will be seen as getting a
 |free ride and cut off. 

Your phylosophy is right - but without money you won't be able to do
much. 

BTW please post John Perry Barlow's essay here. Some fj readers will
show interests.

// Kenji