[net.general] people who need mail paths

nickles (03/16/83)

#R:floyd:-129300:ihlpf:5500005:  0:968
ihlpf!nickles    Mar 16  9:25:00 1983

I don't know how this could be done, but it seems that what
companies and schools alike want is to be able to charge
costs to individuals.  I.e. it costs us BTL types something
to use the network, to print a listing, compile a program, etc.
Of course its all funny money, but somewhere there is a
little grubby accountant trying to make sense of everything.

So, what you really want is to be able to determine the
uucp costs of making a call, and send that back to the
computer, which subsequently charges the user who sent
the message.  Obviously, everyone would sent their mail
at 4 in the morning.  As for news, the school/corporation
would have to set up an account for "news" and allocate
what they feel it is worth.

Again, I haven't a clue how this could be done, until the
phone company is forced to do it for competitive reasons,
but it seems to be what the people who pay the bills are
looking for.
				
				Jack Nickles
				ihuxl!nickles
				ihlpf!nickles