On Fri, 29 May 1998, Karl Denninger wrote:
Now, let's look at the parallels:
1. Both are required to "do business" in a given sector (ie: announce routes, sell to the Erate customer base)
2. Both are simple *technical* providers (assignment of a number, with the important being that it is unique in both cases).
3. One is free to the ISP.
4. The other costs $500.00
5. One is financed by the government out of your taxes and is merely an accounting formality much like a customer ID number. The other is funded by a corporation that has no government funding and must support itself not unlike most businesses and the number is a critical infrastructure identifier something like an NPA-NXX.
What is going on here? ASNs didn't used to cost money until ARIN got its claws into them.
ASNs have always cost money to issue. It's just that in the past it was funded out of taxes funnelled through the NSF to a subcontractor and hidden somewhere in NSI's budget. Those days are gone, thank God. -- Michael Dillon - Internet & ISP Consulting Memra Communications Inc. - E-mail: michael@memra.com http://www.memra.com - *check out the new name & new website*