American History 1988
Chapter 99 - 93 Privatization

Chapter 99: Chapter 93 Privatization

"Motherfucker! Where’s my car?!" Dean, coming out of the library, found his car that had been parked in the bike shed was gone!

"Dean, didn’t you lock it?" David glanced at him in surprise.

"I was in a hurry for time, so I didn’t get around to it~" Dean spread his hands, his expression one of utter helplessness. The computer resources at Stanford were limited, and he had to race against the clock.

"Stanford is an open campus round the clock, Dean. You know that, right?" Even the honest and straightforward David knew that one must be wary of others.

"Shit! The public safety in America is just a pile of crap!" Dean had just bought the car and had not even gotten it warm before he painfully lost his beloved vehicle.

On the same day, the first Monday of October, Stephen Wolfe once again drove to the Stanford University campus.

This was his third visit this year, having just landed at San Francisco airport two hours earlier.

As Director of Networking and Communication Research and Infrastructure at the NSF, Stephen had been traveling between universities on the East Coast and West Coast almost every other week.

They were all main nodes of the NSF network, and Stephen’s visits to these universities were related to this matter.

With the NSF having streamlined the internet’s processes and infrastructure, especially after achieving the T1 level transmission rate upgrade this year,

more and more university users were flocking to the NSF network, experiencing the convenience of the network upgrade. E-mail exchanges, sending and receiving electronic documents, and long-distance data transfer had all become more reliable.

Stephen was pleased that the NSF network he managed had been affirmed by major scientific institutions as an independent agency directly accountable to Congress.

The NSF was obligated to support higher education and scientific research institutions and would even allocate the budget when necessary.

However, although many labs and scientists had a positive attitude towards the NSF network, the demand for it was also growing day by day.

This brought up another issue, that the NSF needed to continue to invest in the expansion and upgrading of the internet.

In other words, this required a significant amount of money, but this year’s broadband speed increase had already exhausted the NSF’s budget.

After all, America was too big, with thousands of schools and labs across the nation. Without congressional funding, it would be hard for the NSF to maintain operation of the network.

Any proposal requiring congressional approval almost inevitably meant squabbling. Stephen wasn’t too hopeful about this; past experiences had taught him that it was no easy task.

Pressured by operational demands, he started to consider the possibility of NSF network privatization, a topic he had already speculated about privately last year.

If private service providers offered internet services to universities or individual users, perhaps researchers’ expenses in this area could be reduced.

While the NSF network was freely open to them, the purchase and maintenance of the hardware infrastructure had to be managed by the schools themselves.

Of course, if NSF could secure more funds from profit sources, the budget they received would be more substantial. The internet was just one of the sectors overseen by NSF, with biology, engineering, and environmental science among the supported fields.

With this in mind, Stephen was preparing to discuss the possibility of NSF network privatization with various universities.

In the first half of the year, he had already visited main internet research bases like Harvard, MIT, and Berkeley, and of course, Stanford was of paramount importance.

Stephen’s official car passed along Palm Drive, skirted the oval green lawn, and headed straight for the Computer Science Research Center in the western part of the campus after entering the gate.

At the foot of the verdant hill, numerous labs of Stanford’s School of Engineering were located. The academic atmosphere was evident from the names, but in reality, it was far from as serious as one might imagine.

At least from inside the car, Stephen saw boys and girls jovially playing golf on the course through the window.

What a time to reminisce, Stephen’s expression relaxed slightly at the corners of his eyes, softening his authoritative face a great deal.

"Mr. Wolfe, we’ve arrived." The assistant driving the car in front came to a silent stop, then opened the car door for him.

"Thank you," Stephen said as he got out of the car, surveying the few research buildings in front of him before entering the core of Stanford computers under the guidance of the campus reception staff.

"Stephen, I knew you’d come here soon," John McCarthy, already waiting in his office, said with a smile as he got up to give him a hug.

"John, we’ve known each other for almost twenty years; I have every reason to believe you’re well aware of NSF’s every move. What do you think? Have you ever considered taking a position at NSF in the future?"

"Come on, I’m looking forward to retirement and a life on vacation," John had been teaching here since the establishment of the Stanford Computer Science Department in 1965.

After over two decades of development, Stanford Computer Science had long since become a leading program known throughout America. And John McCarthy had returned to Stanford after positions at Princeton University, Dartmouth College, and MIT.

Now he was a senior advisor of the Stanford Computer Science Department, as well as the director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and an honorary professor of the department.

As a pioneer in the field of computer science, Stephen needed to hear his opinion on the privatization of the NSF network.

Of course, this matter required collective wisdom, and John was just one of many people Stephen was visiting. At Stanford, computer experts were everywhere.

"John, is everyone else here too?" After exchanging greetings, Stephen left the office with John, chatting as they walked.

"Don, Winton, they both happen to be here today, so I called ahead to make arrangements,"

"Good, you’ve been a great help, John." Stephen hugged his shoulder and said sentimentally, "You have no idea how many times I’ve been asked about the privatization of the NSF network this year.

Not just companies like AT&T, IBM, and MCI, but even many members of Congress have been sending messages through different channels. They all want a piece of the action."

What surprised me more was that a land company in Cohen County was also inquiring about this. After some investigation, I found out that they are in the oil and ranching business.

Since when did the internet get mixed up with these things? Do they think that oil and milk can be transported through the network?"

"Ha-ha~, Stephen, obviously, everyone loves the internet." John laughed heartily and patted his shoulder, "Stanford’s students have complained more than once that the school’s access restrictions are too tight.

You know, compared to programming languages and other dry stuff, it’s more fun to share the little tools they create on BBS."

"I’m starting to see where the NSF network’s hefty annual operational funds are going," Stephen shrugged, never having imagined when he took over the NSF that the network would one day evolve in such a way.

"Times are always changing," John stopped and opened the door to the meeting room for Stephen.

Because Stanford is one of the backbone nodes of the network, the privatization will inevitably involve issues related to the transfer and maintenance of lines, equipment, and exchange centers.

Therefore, before the plan is actually implemented, Stephen hopes to reach a consensus here at the school.

Attending the meeting were Stanford’s current President, Don Kennedy, one of the inventors of the TCP/IP protocol, hailed as one of the fathers of the internet, Vinton Cerf, and Donald Knuth, a celebrated algorithm expert and Turing Award recipient.

Since this was Stephen’s third time discussing this issue with Stanford, there was no need for meaningless pleasantries as they got straight to the heart of the meeting’s agenda.

"Guys, to be frank, I personally am in favor of the privatization of the NSF network," Stephen thanked his assistant for the coffee and continued the topic from last time.

"Although the initial intention of the NSF network was to facilitate communication among research institution personnel, the internet’s development has far exceeded our original purpose.

The rapidly growing demand is making the NSF increasingly overburdened. I also know that many unauthorized organizations are secretly using these resources, but we can’t effectively restrict them."

This is where the problem lies, with increasing demand but a federal budget that hasn’t increased much. Even if Stephen wanted to maintain the original purpose of the NSF network’s operations, he was hindered by the lack of resources.

Upon hearing his statement, those from Stanford’s side did not raise any objections. As an open university that encourages its faculty and staff to venture into Silicon Valley, Stanford’s business atmosphere is unrivaled throughout America.

As President, Don Kennedy just had some questions that needed clarification. "So, Stephen, will Stanford be the first stop in the privatization? Or who will be responsible for the operation of the privatized network? Are we going to create another AT&T in the field of network communication?"

Including President Kennedy, everyone agreed on the privatization of network operations. Especially Vinton Cerf, Donald Knuth, and John McCarthy, the three of them embodied the geek spirit characteristic of elite computer technicians.

Sharing their own technology and allowing more people to improve the internet is the essence of the geek sharing spirit.

The direction of network privatization is indeed about shedding the constraints on everyone, but the process is complicated and unpredictable.

They were worried about one thing—whether the privatization process mentioned by President Kennedy would give rise to another AT&T in the field of network communication.

Network service providers and telephone communications services have some similarities; AT&T’s once domineering practices have made the public detest the idea of another monopolistic behemoth.

They wanted freedom but not to hand the internet over to another monopolistic company. Undoubtedly, this would go against the spirit of sharing on the internet.

Stephen knew who President Kennedy was worried about; if anyone during the NSF network privatization process could potentially monopolize this section of the business,

it was undoubtedly IBM, omnipresent in the field of computer communications. What’s key is that the NSF currently has a contract with them.

To upgrade the NSF network, Stephen’s office issued a five-year engineering tender in ’86. IBM and MCI submitted a joint bid, with the Michigan Educational Research Information Triad (MERIT) serving as the general contractor for the project.

All three institutions—financially robust and experienced—collaborated to achieve this year’s broadband speed upgrade of the NSF network.

Who would be most likely to occupy a favorable position if the NSF network began privatization? The names of these three entities surfaced in the minds of everyone present, including Stephen.

They have long-distance communication lines, professional data exchange centers, and experienced construction personnel.

As soon as the NSF lets go of the network’s control today, tomorrow these three companies could restore operation of the entire backbone.

Powerful and efficient, but the people at Stanford don’t like IBM, or rather, people across Silicon Valley don’t like IBM.

The competition between the East and West Coasts in the computer industry has lasted for decades. IBM represents the traditional big companies of the East Coast, being strong, bloated, and aggressive, while Silicon Valley prefers freedom and sharing, with a cultural core that fundamentally differs from the former.

From the attitude of the Stanford group, Stephen understood that NSF network privatization wouldn’t be an overnight success.

However, he had his own plans, and of course, Stanford’s opinions needed to be respected. "So? Gentlemen, do you have any more reasonable suggestions regarding privatization?"

"Stephen, perhaps the privatization of the NSF network has already begun." Vinton Cerf, who had been listening quietly, suddenly spoke up.