Xref: utzoo comp.mail.uucp:5713 comp.protocols.tcp-ip:14316 comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains:564 Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!bu.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!apple!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!bfmny0!tneff From: tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff) Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp,comp.protocols.tcp-ip,comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains Subject: Re: More routing question information Message-ID: <30703908@bfmny0.BFM.COM> Date: 7 Jan 91 10:28:13 GMT References: <3882@stl.stc.co.uk> <37629@cup.portal.com> Reply-To: tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff) Followup-To: comp.mail.uucp Lines: 45 In article <37629@cup.portal.com> thinman@cup.portal.com (Lance C Norskog) writes: >Mr. Grandi used an oddity of the English language called a 'synecdoche'. Even if he had, synecdoche has no proper place in a technical discussion about which networks should interconnect. The part cannot be casually substituted for the whole, or vice versa, when the very meat of the argument concerns inappropriate routing through parts and wholes. >The Internet is being used as a "commons", >as in "The Tragedy of the Commons". UUCP->Internet->UUCP is an abuse >if it's not government-sponsored research, or you're not designing bombs :-) First of all, there is a distinction between simple misuse of an apparently free resource, versus the specific economic paradox embodied in the "Tragedy of the Commons." In the latter (Commons) case, it was explicitly in each user's interest to maximize his (quite permissible) use of the resource, in order that he not suffer competitively with other users; the end result being destruction of the resource for all. But in the Internet case, (a) there is no underlying right to use it as a third party mail carrier in the first place; (b) given the availability of non-Internet ways for many sites to get mail delivered (high speed modems make UUCP much more attractive, for instance), users are not compelled to keep using the Internet resource forever even as quality of service degrades with increased usage. They can switch to something else. So the much-overused Commons model fits poorly. What we really have is a modified black market, where the Man could theoretically lower the boom any day but doesn't, and where the door is always open for someone to come in and offer better service for a cheaper price -- but while the quasi-illicit resource is out there for the taking and not yet overwhelmed, only a few (like UUNET and PSI) will bother. Finally, there is not much hard data available on the extent of Internet misuse. What misuse does occur is only partly intentional; some of it is a by-product of inaccurate UUCP mapping, and could be corrected. >Synecdoche is your new word for the day. Pronounce the 'ch' 'sh'. Did you know that the word 'gullible' is not in the dictionary? (Synecdoche is, of course, pronounced sin-EK-duh-kee. Pedantry is its own reward :-) ) -- "I'm not sure I've even got the brains to #:# Tom Neff be President." -- Barry Goldwater, 1964 #:# tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM