In 1990, the National Science Foundation was very much in charge of the Internet. They made all the policies, and were active in getting many new organizations connected. Almost all of the major NSFNET "backbone" connections were supplied by MCI via an organization called Merit.
This policy analysis is for anyone interested in Internet history or in drawing links from the past to the present (or possibly from the present to the future). The policy I will examine was directed at all users of NSFNET (aka, the Internet), and was intended to be widely read and distributed, as well as being part of any basic Internet literacy class or workshop.
Like any policy, there were many people who used the Internet daily but never heard of it -- but even so, the policy was in place, and network administrators at institutions on the Internet (mostly colleges and universities) would enforce it.
At the time of the policy, everything was run by the NSF or their contractors (like Merit). This s there was a lot of centralization - much more than there is today! Also, the network was mostly used in the US, and mostly by academic and research organizations. An old 1993 network map looked like this:
There is really only one focus of the policy: what's allowed and not allowed. The policy doesn't talk about things like etiquette, or the types of services on the Internet, or the types of organizations that might be connected.
The real emphasis, in what's allowed, is on what sorts of commercial use might be allowed. There was a fear that the Internet would be used for commercial purposes - and the NSF didn't want to subsidize such commercial purposes.
The bottom line is that the NSFNET was to be used for research and education purposes. Commercial enterprises could use the network, but not for things that would favor their commerce. So, information about a product that's relevant to a particular research or educational discussion or forum is fine, but just sending the same information to people unsolicited is not OK.
By today's standards, this seems kind of weird. It's almost the opposite of what the Internet is used for today: commerce. The .com domain has been the biggest area of growth, and lots of the newest developments (like shopping carts and Web-database integration) are primarily for commercial use.
What I would have liked to see is more information on the purpose of the Internet. Something that includes an emphasis on diversity of opinions, on the role of the Internet for future communication, or somesuch -- essentially, to serve a nobler purpose.
Overall, though, the policy is clearly written and makes it feasible (not necessarily easy) to analyze almost any action or message to determine whether it's allowed or not.
The NSFNET Acceptable Use Policy
[NSFNET] NETUSE.TXT
Interim 3 July 1990
NSFNET
Acceptable Use Policy
The purpose of NSFNET is to support research and education in and
among academic institutions in the U.S. by providing access to unique
resources and the opportunity for collaborative work.
This statement represents a guide to the acceptable use of the NSFNET
backbone. It is only intended to address the issue of use of the
backbone. It is expected that the various middle level networks will
formulate their own use policies for traffic that will not traverse
the backbone.
(1) All use must be consistent with the purposes of NSFNET.
(2) The intent of the use policy is to make clear certain cases
which are consistent with the purposes of NSFNET, not to
exhaustively enumerate all such possible uses.
(3) The NSF NSFNET Project Office may at any time make
determinations that particular uses are or are not
consistent with the purposes of NSFNET. Such determinations
will be reported to the NSFNET Policy Advisory Committee
and to the user community.
(4) If a use is consistent with the purposes of NSFNET, then
activities in direct support of that use will be considered
consistent with the purposes of NSFNET. For example,
administrative communications for the support infrastructure
needed for research and instruction are acceptable.
(5) Use in support of research or instruction at not-for-profit
institutions of research or instruction in the United States
is acceptable.
(6) Use for a project which is part of or supports a research or
instruction activity for a not-for-profit institution of
research or instruction in the United States is acceptable,
even if any or all parties to the use are located or
employed elsewhere. For example, communications directly
between industrial affiliates engaged in support of a
project for such an institution is acceptable.
(7) Use for commercial activities by for-profit institutions is
generally not acceptable unless it can be justified under
(4) above. These should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis
by the NSF Project Office.
(8) Use for research or instruction at for-profit institutions
may or may not be consistent with the purposes of NSFNET,
and will be reviewed by the NSF Project Office on a
case-by-case basis.
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