haas@utah-cs.UUCP (Walt Haas) (04/10/84)
I am forwarding the views of Debbie Deutsch on the topics raised here recently: ============================================================================= Received: from BBNA.ARPA by UTAH-20.ARPA with TCP; Tue 10 Apr 84 08:50:34-MST Date: 10 Apr 1984 10:52-EST From: DDEUTSCH@BBNA Once again, thanks for forwarding the latest Usenet message apropos the CCITT X.400 draft recommendations. Here are my comments on the issue of public/private interconnection and X.400. Maybe you could forward them on to the Usenet community. I certainly sympathize with John Covert's feelings about what X.400 says about public/private interconnection of message sytems. However, including private message systems at all was a major victory for the forces of North America. This was the best compromise we could get. The problem is that the PTTs are extremely worried about the ramifications of connecting with private services. They feel that they cannot trust a private system to operate correctly. PTTs feel that they can trust each other because of the consequences that would befall a PTT that misbehaved. (The other PTTs could decide not to "talk" to it, isolating that PTT/country from the rest of the telecommunications world.) They feel that private systems do not have such a stake in correct operation; hence the mistrust. In this case, the PTTs are willing to have messages originate in or be destined for private systems because at least one of the users involved would be a subscriber to a private system. If something went wrong, they could and probably would point a finger at that user (and system), disclaiming responsibility, and reminding everyone concerned that they could have been using a public system instead of brand x. On the other hand, if a message originated in a public system and was destined to a public system, the PTTs would have to take full responsibility for its delivery. If they chose to use a private system as a bridge between the public systems, they would have to take the blame if anything went wrong. This is not acceptable to the PTTs. That is why they do not allow messages to go from an ADMD to a PRMD and then to an ADMD. Whether we feel sympathetic for the concerns of the PTTs or not, they are the majority in CCITT. Standards are the products of many compromises. This was one. I, too, wish things had turned out otherwise. Debbie Deutsch (DDeutsch@BBNA.ARPA)