Francis
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Not a lot of thought went in creating Net: fxl@nospam.solomon.CV.Com
this .sig Net2: fliu@nospam.socs.uts.edu.au
Phone: on request
WARNING: Bug #23a42 not implemented yet. Fax: +61 2 844 8333
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*** Please distribute this petition as far and wide as possible.
*** Pass it on to other newsgroups, mailing lists, friends, family,
*** associates, bosses, etc.
*** If you feel strongly about volume charging, then don't be
*** apathetic: send in your support. It may be our last chance
*** to voice our protest.
Purpose:
This message is a petition to the management of AARNet and the Australian
Vice-Chancellor's Committee (AVCC) to immediately restart the process of
determining an appropriate charging scheme for AARNet, in an open environment
with all figures and proposals laid out in public.
Background:
Since near the end of 1993, the AEWG accouting working group mailing list
(aewg-accounting@nospam.aarnet.edu.au) has been investigating various schemes to
introduce a "user pays" scheme to AARNet. The working group has focused
on technical issues and there has been very little if any debate on the
impact of actual charges and to the costs to implement usage monitoring in
environments that don't have dedicated routers available.
The current AARNet charging scheme involves "bandwidth charging" whereby each
network purchases a particular bandwidth and can make as much or as little
use of that bandwidth as they see fit. The new charging scheme involves
"volume charging" whereby each network will be charged for every byte sent
over AARNet's links. Each network will be responsible for spreading its
AARNet volume charge bill internally. The most recent public information
puts these charges at $1 per megabyte for interstate traffic and $2 per
megabyte for international traffic. No further information has been
forthcoming from AARNet.
This new scheme puts the non-profit public access groups in a very difficult
funding situation. It also disadvantages all AARNet users in the northern
and western states of Australia because the majority of Internet services
are located in the south-eastern states or are overseas. The scheme is
likely to have significant negative impact on the goodwill and free archive
services that are now available on the Internet.
There has been no contact with the non-profit public access affiliates
of AARNet to determine a scheme of mutual benefit, and to avoid destroying
all that has been achieved within that sector in the last 3 years. Unlike
the universities, the non-profit public access affiliates cannot hide high
volume charges within copious budgets. Even the university community could
suffer as bills are passed onto departments and department heads start to
wonder whether it is really worth making full Internet access available to
its researchers and students after all.
The first that the majority of AARNet's users found out about the proposed
schemes was when it was mentioned in the newspaper media. The AARNet
management did not post a press release through the normal electronic
communications channels of AARNet.
Who this petition is directed at:
AARNet's Technical Manager, Geoff Huston, has consistently said that his
hands are tied and that he cannot release figures and information about
the planned schemes unless he receives the go-ahead from his superiors.
This petition is directed at those superiors.
The petition:
This petition calls for an immediate restart of the investigation into
charging schemes for AARNet to determine a fair and equitable system that
will not only allow the universities to maintain a consistent level of
service, but will also allow the public access and other non-university
groups to survive at the low and middle parts of the Internet service
provision market.
This petition calls for the AARNet management to consult with all sections
of the AARNet community when determining charging schemes. AARNet has gone
beyond its university roots and this must be acknowledged in any future
proposals.
This petition calls for all information of relevance to determining the
final charging scheme to be made available to the AEWG accounting
working group mailing list and for future schemes to be debated openly
on the mailing list and in the AARNet newsgroups.
This petition calls for the AARNet management and the AVCC to keep us
informed in the future through the usual electronic communications channels.
How to register your support:
If you support this petition, then send an e-mail message to the address
"petition@nospam.brisnet.org.au". The contents of the Subject line and the
message body are irrelevant. An acknowledgement message will be sent back.
The full text of this petition may be obtained by sending an e-mail message
to "petition-text@nospam.brisnet.org.au". Queries about the petition may be sent to
the addresses "petition-query@nospam.brisnet.org.au", "rhys@nospam.brisnet.org.au" or
"rhys@nospam.fit.qut.edu.au". Do not send your support e-mail to those addresses
or to the AARNet newsgroups: only e-mail sent to "petition@nospam.brisnet.org.au"
will be counted.
The petition will run from the 15th of April 1994, for at least one month,
and possibly longer depending on the support achieved. Periodic tallies will
be posted to aus.net.aarnet and sent to "aarnet@nospam.aarnet.edu.au". The full
text of all e-mail messages and acknowledgement bounces will be available to
be checked by third parties for any irregularities.
Rhys Weatherley, President, BrisNet.
E-mail: rhys@nospam.brisnet.org.au or rhys@nospam.fit.qut.edu.au
Work Phone: (07) 864 1290
Home Phone: (07) 279 2338 after 6pm
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