[governance] Re: The Internet (as we know it) can never be "private"

[Roland Perry]

In message 
<CAJwbTiCFE9FnBR3Nhnj+5oanRptRH1K=RL6Yuw0RQjxQxe1aNQ at mail.gmail.com>, at 
09:12:02 on Sun, 17 Jul 2011, Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro 
<salanieta.tamanikaiwaimaro at gmail.com> writes
>Question
>
>Why is it that when someone from Kenya emails someone from the US, the 
>ISP in Kenya pays?
>
>Why is that when someone from the US emails someone from Kenya, the ISP 
>in Kenya still pays

Firstly, it would the ISP customer who is paying (through their 
subscriptions).

Secondly, we must examine what they are paying *for*. At the most basic 
level it's "a connection to the Internet". (And emails are sent and 
received over that connection).

So what is "the Internet"? It's a set of interconnected networks.

What the customer is therefore paying for is his ISP to operate the 
'local' network *plus* establish and maintain the interconnects with 
other networks.

For historical reasons, the early *international* interconnects were on 
the East and West coast of the USA. So an ISP customer in Chicago will 
be at the very least paying for his ISP to haul the traffic halfway 
across the USA.

As time went on, and there was more traffic in places like Europe, ISPs 
built additional interconnects that were cheaper for them. So an ISP 
customer in Paris might only pay for his ISP to operate the network 
inside France (to exchange emails with other Frenchmen, entirely at the 
cost of the French) plus an Interconnect to London, Amsterdam or 
Frakkfurt; rather than "plus an Interconnect to New York".

Unfortunately, the regulatory regime in some parts of the world made it 
very difficult to establish new local interconnects, let alone 
international ones. And to some extent the users in those areas are 
"paying" for that.

There's also an economy of scale, and a need for bold investment, when 
it comes to laying new International connectivity.

So the answer to your question is "no, the user in Kenya isn't paying 
for the emails in both directions, they are paying for their local 
connectivity plus a share of the connectivity to an International hub. 
The user in the USA is paying exactly the same.
-- 
Roland Perry
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