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Model license provisions for Internet service via cable
by Jerome H. Saltzer, with suggestions and advice from many sources
Draft of 12 October 1999
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1.  If licensee chooses to provide Internet access service, it shall
provide such service with a minimum of constraints on customer usage,
and in conformance with the requirements of this section.

1.1 Licensee shall provide a direct, high-performance (at least 100
Mbits/second) interconnect between the Internet and the municipal
network of [name of city] using an appropriate border gateway
protocol.  The municipal network may have its own internet address
registration.

1.2 Licensee shall provide an interconnect with a minimum number of
hops and high performance between its point of presence in [name of
city] and

   1.2.1 all Internet access providers that have points of presence in
[name of metropolitan area].

   1.2.2 any Internet backbone provider that offers a network
attachment point to the licensee, on terms comparable to those with
licensee's preferred backbone provider.

1.3 Licensee shall permit each customer to choose the Internet
backbone provider that normally carries that customer's traffic to
points outside of the licensee's network.

1.4 Internet addresses, once assigned, shall normally be stable.  If
it becomes technically necessary to change a customer's internet
address, the customer shall be given sufficient notice that the
customer's activities not be disrupted.

1.5.  Licensee shall carry all categories of IP datagrams,

   1.5.1 with performance of datagram carriage being independent of
source and destination address.  Priority service, if offered, will be
similarly independent of source and destination address.

   1.5.2  to and from any network port without restriction.

   1.5.3  with no restrictions on content or usage purpose.

1.6 Notwithstanding provision 1.5, the licensee may, with no extra
charge or discount, restrict source and target addresses, ports, and
content or usage purpose for a particular customer if that customer
specifically requests.

1.7 Provision 1.5 shall not be interpreted to prevent the licensee
from setting rates that are dependent solely on the customer's volume
of network usage, so long as such rates do not depend on source and
target address, port, content, usage purpose, or choice of backbone
provider.

1.8 Licensee shall make no restrictions on the number of computers or
internet addresses assigned to one customer, and licensee will
implement access protocols that allow the customer to attach a local
area network.  Licensee will make no restrictions that prevent the
customer from simultaneously receiving Internet service from other
internet access providers.

1.9 Licensee may, in its customer contract, restrict resale of its
services and transit of datagrams through customer equipment to other
customers and internet access providers.

1.10 Licensee shall implement technical provisions such as loop and
echo tests to permit a customer or third party to diagnose and isolate
Internet connection problems.

1.11 Licensee shall implement updated and new network-level Internet
protocol standards as soon as practical after they are adopted in the
Internet community.

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