From vancamp@ruca.ua.ac.be Fri May 27 03:41:35 1994 Received: from maze.ruca.ua.ac.be for vancamp@ruca.ua.ac.be by www.ccl.net (8.6.4/930601.1506) id CAA08165; Fri, 27 May 1994 02:50:44 -0400 Message-Id: <199405270650.CAA08165@www.ccl.net> Received: by maze.ruca.ua.ac.be (1.37.109.4/16.2) id AA13533; Fri, 27 May 94 08:50:00 +0200 Date: Fri, 27 May 94 08:50:00 +0200 From: Piet Van Camp To: chemistry@ccl.net Subject: Geometry database Hi everybody, Does anybody know of the existence of a database containing information on the structural parameters (bond lenghts and angles) of organic molecules. Many thanks, P.E. Van Camp University of Antwerp - RUCA Department of Physics Research Group TSM Groenenborgerlaan 171 B-2020 Antwerpen, Belgium Tel: +32/3/2180316 ; 2180314 (Secretary) Fax: +32/3/2180318 E-mail: vancamp@maze.ruca.ua.ac.be From boufer@criuc.unicaen.fr Fri May 27 05:41:36 1994 Received: from caen1.unicaen.fr for boufer@criuc.unicaen.fr by www.ccl.net (8.6.4/930601.1506) id FAA09280; Fri, 27 May 1994 05:15:02 -0400 Received: by caen1.unicaen.fr (MX V4.0-1 VAX) id 1; Fri, 27 May 1994 11:17:41 +0100 Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 11:17:40 +0100 From: Ahmed Bouferguene To: chemistry@criuc.unicaen.fr Message-ID: <0097F0DA.7904BF00.1@caen1.unicaen.fr> Subject: Optmization of the screening constants Hi everybody, Does anyone know a method (or a reference) that may be used to optimize the screening constants of the atomic orbitals in order to obtain the best values of the energy, ... in the SCF computations. BOUFER@CRIUC.UNICAEN.FR From laxman@mbu.iisc.ernet.in Fri May 27 05:46:29 1994 Received: from relay1.UU.NET for laxman@mbu.iisc.ernet.in by www.ccl.net (8.6.4/930601.1506) id EAA09213; Fri, 27 May 1994 04:56:41 -0400 From: Received: from iisc.ernet.in (via iisc.iisc.ernet.in) by relay1.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AAwrrf09827; Fri, 27 May 94 04:56:35 -0400 Received: by iisc.ernet.in (ERNET-IISc/AT&T UNIX SYS V.3.2) id AA00931; Fri, 27 May 94 14:16:50 EDT Date: Fri, 27 May 94 14:16:50 EDT Message-Id: <9405271816.AA00931@iisc.ernet.in> Received: by vigyan.iisc.ernet.in (smail2.3) id AA20732; 27 May 94 14:13:45 EST (Fri) To: vigyan!chemistry@ccl.net Subject: REQUEST FOR AMBER PARAMETERS Dear netters, I need the bond length, bond angle and torsion angle force field parameters for the following AMBER atom type combinations: (i) Bond lenghts C -HC; C -OS; (ii) Bond Angles O -C -HC; O -C -OS; C -OS-CT; HC-C -OS (iv) Torsion Anlges O -C -OS-CT; HC-C OS-CT Basically I need the above for calculations on the following structure: CH3 / O | C / \ O H Thank you in advance. You can contact me at any of the following e-mail addresses juma@mbu.iisc.ernet.in laxman@mbu.iisc.ernet.in Laxman K. Iyer, Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India From toukie@zui.unizh.ch Fri May 27 05:47:54 1994 Received: from rzusuntk.unizh.ch for toukie@zui.unizh.ch by www.ccl.net (8.6.4/930601.1506) id FAA09224; Fri, 27 May 1994 05:00:26 -0400 Received: from rzurs5.unizh.ch by rzusuntk.unizh.ch (4.1/SMI-4.1.9) id AA12540; Fri, 27 May 94 11:00:24 +0200 Received: by rzurs5.unizh.ch (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA18922; Fri, 27 May 1994 11:00:23 +0200 From: toukie@zui.unizh.ch (Hr Dr. S. Shapiro) Message-Id: <9405270900.AA18922@rzurs5.unizh.ch> Subject: Hildebrand solubility constant To: chemistry@ccl.net Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 11:00:23 +0100 (MEST) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL13] Content-Type: text Content-Length: 1228 I am interested in computing Hildebrand solubility parameters for some or- ganic molecules, according to the approximation d = [{deltaH(v)-RT}/V(l)]**0.5 where d = Hilde. sol. par. deltaH(v) at 298oC (cal/mol) = -2950 + 23.7 Tb + 0.02(Tb)**2 Tb = boiling point of the compound of interest V(l) = molal volume (volume of 1 kg of substance?) (see Hildebrand & Scott, The Solubility of Nonelectrolytes, Reinhold Publ. Corp., 1950, pp. 424-427). According to this reference (p. 439), the value of d for nitrobenzene = 10.0; according to the Aldrich Catalogue (1992-3), for nitrobenzene Tb = 210.5oC = 483.5oK and density = 1.196 g/mL. For deltaH(v) I calculate -2950 + 23.7(483.5) + (0.02)(483.5)**2 = 13184 cal/mol From the above density, I calculate v(l) = 0.836 L/kg. What is the value of R that I must use in order to obtain d from the above values? Please don't clog the bandwidth; send your replies directly to me at Internet: toukie@zui.unizh.ch Thanks to all responders in advance. Sincerely, S. Shapiro From winn@tph12.tuwien.ac.at Fri May 27 05:49:25 1994 Received: from tph12.tuwien.ac.at for winn@tph12.tuwien.ac.at by www.ccl.net (8.6.4/930601.1506) id FAA09228; Fri, 27 May 1994 05:00:36 -0400 Message-Id: <199405270900.FAA09228@www.ccl.net> Received: by tph12.tuwien.ac.at (1.37.109.4/16.2) id AA16814; Fri, 27 May 94 11:00:35 +0200 From: Martyn Winn Subject: CCL:Back to MD potentials (fwd) To: chemistry@ccl.net Date: Fri, 27 May 94 11:00:35 MESZ Mailer: Elm [revision: 70.85] Dear Vladimir, I do not believe a unified approach for covalent solids does exist, so I don't think you will get a convenient answer. Certainly, traditional MD with pair potentials doesn't work, in that a given pair potential will not reproduce all properties of the solid. This is principally because of the directional nature of the bonding. So for classical MD you need to include 3-body terms (e.g. Stillinger and Weber, Phys.Rev.B 31, 5262 (1985) for Si), or even 4-body terms (e.g. Mistriotis et al J.Phys. Condens. Matter 5, 6183 (1993) for Si clusters). Alternatively, Car-Parrinello simulations are quite successful, but very demanding. Halfway between these two extremes, tight-binding MD (e.g. Wang et al Phys.Rev.B 39, 8586 (1989)) provides results comparable to CP with much less computational effort, but at the expense of requiring good parameterisation of the TB Hamiltonian. To get the reliable results you ask for, I think you must adopt one of these approaches however scary they seem ;-) . martyn > > Dear netters, > Not so long ago I posted request for a list of MD potential > parameters for MD simulation of solids. > So far I have not gotten any respond. Therefore I would like > to clarify the reasons why I posted it. > Well, I had weak hope that people were trying to > find unified approach to potential model of solids for > MD simulation. Now I lost it. > > In case of mainly ionic solids people generally > use potentials of Fumi and Tosi. In simulation of solids > with significant part of covalent bonding you know better than I do > what is going on. Just take a look at employed charges: > - formal > - partial from ab-initio > - partial from fitting procedure > It is scary to speak about 3-body and higher order potential > terms. > As all we know people use their own potential model and parameters > which suit best their particular task. This allows a > person who is not in MD simulation to ask a resonable ( in my > opinion) question how reliable a result of MD simulation is > if the model can not reproduce the rest of properties of > the same solids. > Could somebody help me to answer this question? > > Do not you think that it is time to work out some > unified model of covalent solids? > > Truely yours, > Vladimir. > > ---Administrivia: This message is automatically appended by the mail exploder: > CHEMISTRY@ccl.net -- everyone | CHEMISTRY-REQUEST@ccl.net -- coordinator > MAILSERV@ccl.net: HELP CHEMISTRY | Gopher: www.ccl.net 73 > Anon. ftp www.ccl.net | CHEMISTRY-SEARCH@ccl.net -- archive search > http://www.ccl.net/chemistry.html | for info send: HELP SEARCH to MAILSERV > -- Martyn Winn Institut fuer Theoretische Physik, Technische Universitaet Wien, Wiedner Hauptstrasse 8-10, A-1040 Wien, Austria. Tel: +43 1 58801 5678 Fax: +43 1 567760 E-mail: winn@tph12.tuwien.ac.at From winn@tph10.tuwien.ac.at Fri May 27 06:41:36 1994 Received: from tph10.tuwien.ac.at for winn@tph10.tuwien.ac.at by www.ccl.net (8.6.4/930601.1506) id GAA09728; Fri, 27 May 1994 06:21:42 -0400 Message-Id: <199405271021.GAA09728@www.ccl.net> Received: by tph10.tuwien.ac.at (1.37.109.4/16.2) id AA27390; Fri, 27 May 94 12:21:44 +0200 From: Martyn Winn Subject: MD potentials for covalent solids To: chemistry@ccl.net Date: Fri, 27 May 94 12:21:43 METDST Organization: Institute for Theoretical Physics, TU Vienna, Austria. X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11] Dear Vladimir, I do not believe a unified approach for covalent solids does exist, so I don't think you will get a convenient answer. Certainly, traditional MD with pair potentials doesn't work, in that a given pair potential will not reproduce all properties of the solid. This is principally because of the directional nature of the bonding. So for classical MD you need to include 3-body terms (e.g. Stillinger and Weber, Phys.Rev.B 31, 5262 (1985) for Si), or even 4-body terms (e.g. Mistriotis et al J.Phys. Condens. Matter 5, 6183 (1993) for Si clusters). Alternatively, Car-Parrinello simulations are quite successful, but very demanding. Halfway between these two extremes, tight-binding MD (e.g. Wang et al Phys.Rev.B 39, 8586 (1989)) provides results comparable to CP with much less computational effort, but at the expense of requiring good parameterisation of the TB Hamiltonian. To get the reliable results you ask for, I think you must adopt one of these approaches however scary they seem ;-) . martyn > > Dear netters, > Not so long ago I posted request for a list of MD potential > parameters for MD simulation of solids. > So far I have not gotten any respond. Therefore I would like > to clarify the reasons why I posted it. > Well, I had weak hope that people were trying to > find unified approach to potential model of solids for > MD simulation. Now I lost it. > > In case of mainly ionic solids people generally > use potentials of Fumi and Tosi. In simulation of solids > with significant part of covalent bonding you know better than I do > what is going on. Just take a look at employed charges: > - formal > - partial from ab-initio > - partial from fitting procedure > It is scary to speak about 3-body and higher order potential > terms. > As all we know people use their own potential model and parameters > which suit best their particular task. This allows a > person who is not in MD simulation to ask a resonable ( in my > opinion) question how reliable a result of MD simulation is > if the model can not reproduce the rest of properties of > the same solids. > Could somebody help me to answer this question? > > Do not you think that it is time to work out some > unified model of covalent solids? > > Truely yours, > Vladimir. > > ---Administrivia: This message is automatically appended by the mail exploder: > CHEMISTRY@ccl.net -- everyone | CHEMISTRY-REQUEST@ccl.net -- coordinator > MAILSERV@ccl.net: HELP CHEMISTRY | Gopher: www.ccl.net 73 > Anon. ftp www.ccl.net | CHEMISTRY-SEARCH@ccl.net -- archive search > http://www.ccl.net/chemistry.html | for info send: HELP SEARCH to MAILSERV > -- Martyn Winn Institut fuer Theoretische Physik, Technische Universitaet Wien, Wiedner Hauptstrasse 8-10, A-1040 Wien, Austria. Tel: +43 1 58801 5678 Fax: +43 1 567760 E-mail: winn@tph10.tuwien.ac.at From thep@risc1.lrm.fi.cnr.it Fri May 27 08:41:40 1994 Received: from risc1.lrm.fi.cnr.it for thep@risc1.lrm.fi.cnr.it by www.ccl.net (8.6.4/930601.1506) id IAA10281; Fri, 27 May 1994 08:03:09 -0400 Received: by risc1.lrm.fi.cnr.it (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA22094; Fri, 27 May 1994 12:12:43 +0200 Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 12:12:43 +0200 From: thep@risc1.lrm.fi.cnr.it (Pornthep Sompornpisut) Message-Id: <9405271012.AA22094@risc1.lrm.fi.cnr.it> To: chemistry@ccl.net Subject: hp2ps Dear Netter, Does anybody know of the program which can convert the HP file (for HP laser printer) from sybyl package to the postscript file? It would be nice if the program works on UNIX. Thank your very much Pornthep From bo@quimica.urv.es Fri May 27 09:41:51 1994 Received: from quimica.urv.es for bo@quimica.urv.es by www.ccl.net (8.6.4/930601.1506) id JAA11202; Fri, 27 May 1994 09:39:24 -0400 Received: by quimica.urv.es (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA21350; Fri, 27 May 1994 07:51:09 -0500 Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 07:51:09 -0500 From: bo@quimica.urv.es (Carles Bo) Message-Id: <9405271251.AA21350@quimica.urv.es> To: chemistry@ccl.net Subject: HPGL2PS Pornthep Sompornpisut asks for a program to convert HPGL to Postscript. You may find a file named /pub/hpgl2ps.tar.Z at ftp server iacrs1.unibe.ch Best wishes: Carles Bo From tennant%hau410.uk.sb.com@sb.com Fri May 27 09:44:06 1994 Received: from hau410.uk.sb.com for tennant%hau410.uk.sb.com@sb.com by www.ccl.net (8.6.4/930601.1506) id JAA10809; Fri, 27 May 1994 09:05:01 -0400 Received: by hau410.uk.sb.com (920330.SGI/921111.SGI.ANONFTP) for chemistry@ccl.net id AA06355; Fri, 27 May 94 14:04:07 +0100 Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 13:58:30 +0100 (BST) From: Mike Tennant Subject: Re: CCL:hp2ps To: Pornthep Sompornpisut Cc: chemistry@ccl.net In-Reply-To: <9405271012.AA22094@risc1.lrm.fi.cnr.it> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Fri, 27 May 1994, Pornthep Sompornpisut wrote: > > Dear Netter, > Does anybody know of the program which can convert the > HP file (for HP laser printer) from sybyl package to > the postscript file? It would be nice if the program > works on UNIX. > Thank your very much > Pornthep You can try hpgl2ps, on swedishchef.lerc.nasa.gov (139.88.54.33) in dir /programs. It needs a bit of modification (or did for our SGs), but works pretty well. Mike From laiter@gibbs.oit.unc.edu Fri May 27 11:41:43 1994 Received: from gibbs.oit.unc.edu for laiter@gibbs.oit.unc.edu by www.ccl.net (8.6.4/930601.1506) id LAA12257; Fri, 27 May 1994 11:16:39 -0400 Received: from localhost by gibbs.oit.unc.edu (8.6.4.3/10.1) id LAA09864; Fri, 27 May 1994 11:16:38 -0400 Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 11:16:37 -0400 (EDT) From: Sergei Laiter Subject: dHf of halogen-cyclopropenes To: chemistry@ccl.net Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Dear Netters, I'd like to find out exptl dHf (formation enthalpy) of 1-halogen-2-cyclopropenes (C3H3Hal, HAl=F,Cl,Br,I). I believe that these data can be found in the handbook of Lias, S.G. et al - J. Physical and Chemical Reference Data, 1988, Vol. 17, Supplement N1. Unfortunately, we dont have this book on our campus. I would appreciate if you would help me with this. Thanks. -Sergei Laiter (laiter@gibbs.oit.unc.edu) From boehm@bohr.cem.msu.edu Fri May 27 11:43:19 1994 Received: from msu.edu for boehm@bohr.cem.msu.edu by www.ccl.net (8.6.4/930601.1506) id LAA12172; Fri, 27 May 1994 11:05:12 -0400 Received: from bohr.cem.msu.edu by msu.edu (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with TCP; Fri, 27 May 94 11:04:55 EDT Received: by bohr.cem.msu.edu (920330.SGI/911001.SGI) for @msu.edu:CHEMISTRY@ccl.net id AA02939; Fri, 27 May 94 11:04:06 -0400 Date: Fri, 27 May 94 11:04:06 -0400 From: boehm@bohr.cem.msu.edu (Randy Boehm) Message-Id: <9405271504.AA02939@bohr.cem.msu.edu> To: CHEMISTRY@ccl.net Subject: timing_summary Dear Collegues, I recieved a great many replies concerning timing on an SGI INDIGO 4000. Most of these revolved around profiling, an impressive unix utility. The easiest way to time a program is to do the following: f77 -p program.f a.out prof a.out > timing_data A slightly more difficult, but substantially more thorough way is to do the following: f77 -p -O3 -C program.f mv a.out program.e pixie program.e program.e.pixie prof -pixie -gprof -clock 'nnn' program.e > timing_data (where nnn is your clock speed in MegaHertz, found by typing hinv) This is valuable information. Thanks to all who replied. Sincerely, Randall C. Boehm Michigan State University COMMOC boehm@slater.cem.msu.edu From leon@ms.uky.edu Fri May 27 12:41:41 1994 Received: from mozart.ms.uky.edu for leon@ms.uky.edu by www.ccl.net (8.6.4/930601.1506) id MAA12862; Fri, 27 May 1994 12:10:55 -0400 Received: from s.ms.uky.edu by mozart.ms.uky.edu id aa11215; 27 May 94 14:04 GMT From: "Dr. Leon Y. Xiao" Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 10:04:20 EDT X-Mailer: Mail User's Shell (7.1.2 7/11/90) To: chemistry@ccl.net Subject: phi and psi Message-ID: <9405271404.aa27254@s.s.ms.uky.edu> Hi, netters: Does anybody have a program to calculate the phi and psi angles for a protein and plot them phi vs. psi? -- Leon Y. Xiao, Ph.D. ~/~ leon@ms.uky.edu Computer Algorithm & Molecular Conformation ~/~ (606)257-6820 Department of Mathematics ~/~ Patterson Office Tower 931 University of Kentucky ~/~ Lexington, KY 40506-0027 From dmit@nmr1.ioh.free.net Fri May 27 12:43:01 1994 Received: from nmr1.ioh.free.net for dmit@nmr1.ioh.free.net by www.ccl.net (8.6.4/930601.1506) id LAA12663; Fri, 27 May 1994 11:52:22 -0400 Received: from [193.124.3.49] by nmr1.ioh.free.net ((null)) with SMTP id AA965 ; Fri, 27 May 94 19:53:20 +04 Date: Fri, 27 May 94 19:50:25 +0400 From: "Dmitry E. Dmitriev" Message-Id: <81719.dmit@nmr1.ioh.free.net> X-Minuet-Version: Minuet1.0_Beta_15 Reply-To: X-POPMail-Charset: IBM 8-Bit To: chemistry@ccl.net Subject: PS conversion wanted Dear Netters, i just readed Pornthep Sompornpisut's question about HPGL -> PS conversion. I have "inverse" question. Does anybody know about the program (Dos or Windows based) which can convert the postscript file to any other graphical image format (GIF, JPEG, TIFF etc.)? Thank you for advance Dmitry ============================================================================ Dmitry E. Dmitriev, ** E-mail: dmit@nmr1.ioh.free.net N.D. Zelinsky Inst. of Org. Chem., ** tel : 7 (095) 135 90 94 Russian Academy of Sciences ** fax : 7 (095) 135 53 28 ============================================================================ From case@scripps.edu Fri May 27 13:41:46 1994 Received: from scripps.edu for case@scripps.edu by www.ccl.net (8.6.4/930601.1506) id MAA13238; Fri, 27 May 1994 12:45:19 -0400 Received: from lanczos.scripps.edu by scripps.edu (5.61/1.34) id AA05626; Fri, 27 May 94 09:45:15 -0700 Received: by lanczos.Scripps.EDU (4.1/SMI-4.1/TSRI1.0) id AA19828; Fri, 27 May 94 09:44:17 PDT Date: Fri, 27 May 94 09:44:17 PDT From: case@scripps.edu (David Case) Message-Id: <9405271644.AA19828@lanczos.Scripps.EDU> To: chemistry@ccl.net Subject: Re: CCL:REQUEST FOR AMBER PARAMETERS There have been a number of requests recently for "AMBER" parameters for various types of organic functionalities. It's probably worthwhile to keep the nomenclature straight: AMBER is a suite of programs, developed at UCSF and Scripps Research Institute, that allow certain types of molecular mechanics calculations to be carried out. People use the AMBER programs with a number of force fields, including AMBER/OPLS and CHARMM22, as well as the "default" force field that comes with the code. By common usage, the "AMBER" force field means the default force field in that program, which is described in JACS 106:765 (1984) and J. Comput. Chem. 7:230 (1986). Strictly speaking, this covers only proteins and nucleic acids, so that AMBER parameters for many functionalities do not exist. But we don't need to be too strict in our speaking, and we encourage people to use the AMBER programs for lots of molecules. Force fields for many interesting molecules can be constructed from "obvious" combinations of functional groups present in protein side chains. The new version of the force field (due to be released "soon") will cover a much wider range of functionalities, and will include a general "prescription" for extending it to new systems. Of course, users will have to evaluate the quality and robustness of these extensions....in general, it is no simple matter to derive force fields for arbitrary functional groups. People who have generated AMBER compatible files for other things (sugars, ethers, co-factors, etc.) might want to consider making them available for other users. You could send e-mail to me about what's available, and I will publish a summary. ...dave case ===================================================================== David A. Case | internet: case@scripps.edu Dept. of Molecular Biology, MB1 | bitnet: case%scripps.edu@sdsc The Scripps Research Institute | fax: 619-554-3789 10666 N. Torrey Pines Rd. | phone: 619-554-9768 La Jolla CA 92037 USA | ===================================================================== From bkarlak@ren.onyx-pharm.com Fri May 27 14:44:15 1994 Received: from iserver.onyx-pharm.com for bkarlak@ren.onyx-pharm.com by www.ccl.net (8.6.4/930601.1506) id OAA14036; Fri, 27 May 1994 14:09:32 -0400 Received: from ren.onyx-pharm.com by iserver.onyx-pharm.com (5.67/1.37) id AA16718; Fri, 27 May 94 11:09:28 -0700 Received: by ren.onyx-pharm.com (920330.SGI/921111.SGI.AUTO) for @iserver.onyx-pharm.com:chemistry@ccl.net id AA04716; Fri, 27 May 94 11:09:27 -0700 Date: Fri, 27 May 94 11:09:27 -0700 From: bkarlak@ren.onyx-pharm.com (Brian Karlak) Message-Id: <9405271809.AA04716@ren.onyx-pharm.com> To: chemistry@ccl.net Subject: Internet Pricing Petition Fellow Computational Chemists - The following fell into my mailbox today - and I just about blew my lid. METERED PRICING FOR THE INTERNET!?!!? Say it ain't so, Jack . . . Consider - any possibility of easily accessable on-line preprints or an on-line Computational Chemistry Conference would be squashed by metered pricing. The possibilities for free and untrammeled information flow would be crippled. Even our beloved chemistry@ccl.net mailing list would be affected. If you feel (as I do) that the Internet is one of the most democratic institutions to appear in the last 200 years, that mailing lists and newsgroups are essential services, and that the possibilities for free information transfer via WWW and related services could transform our society, PLEASE SEND YOUR PETITION SIGNATURE TO MIKE WARD: Mike Ward of the Taxpayer Assets Project (mike@essential.org, fax: 202/234-5176; voice: 202/387-8030; P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036) IT IS VITAL THAT YOU DO SO. Thanks for listening, Brian Karlak Onyx Pharmacueticals (Please note that this message in no way is endorsed by or represents the views of Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) ********************************************************************* Distributed to TAP-INFO, a free Internet Distribution List (subscription requests to listserver@essential.org) TAXPAYER ASSETS PROJECT - INFORMATION POLICY NOTE May 7, 1994 - Request for signatures for a letter to NSF opposing metered pricing of Internet usage - Please repost this request freely The letter will be sent to Steve Wolff, the Director of Networking and Communications for NSF. The purpose of the letter is to express a number of user concerns about the future of Internet pricing. NSF recently announced that is awarding five key contracts to telephone companies to operate four Internet "Network Access Points" (NAPs), and an NSF funded very high speed backbone (vBNS). There have been a number of indications that the telephone companies operating the NAPs will seek permission from NSF to price NAPs services according to some measure of Internet usage. The vBNS is expected to act as a testbed for new Internet pricing and accounting schemes. The letter expresses the view that metered pricing of Internet usage should be avoided, and that NSF should ensure that the free flow of information through Internet listserves and file server sites is preserved and enhanced. jamie love, Taxpayer Assets Project (love@essential.org; but unable to answer mail until May 15). Until then, direct inquires to Michael Ward. If you are willing to sign the letter, send the following information to Mike Ward of the Taxpayer Assets Project (mike@essential.org, fax: 202/234-5176; voice: 202/387-8030; P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036): Names: ___________________________ Title: ___________________________ (Optional) Affiliation: ____________________________________ (for purposes of identification only) Address: ______________________________________ City; St, Zip ________________________________ Email Address: _____________________________________ Voice: __________________________________ for verification) the letter follows: Steve Wolff Director Division of Networking and Communications National Science Foundation 1800 G Street Washington, DC 20550 Dear Steve: It is our understanding that the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other federal agencies are developing a new architecture for the Internet that will utilize four new Network Access Points (NAPs), which have been described as the new "cloverleaves" for the Internet. You have indicated that NSF is awarding contracts for four NAPs, which will be operated by telephone companies (Pac Bell, S.F.; Ameritech, Chicago; Sprint, NY; and MFS, Washington, DC). We further understand that NSF has selected MCI to operate its new very high speed backbone (vBNS) facility. There is broad public interest in the outcome of the negotiations between NSF and the companies that will operate the NAPs and vBNS. We are writing to ask that NSF consider the following objectives in its negotiations with these five firms: PRICING. We are concerned about the future pricing systems for Internet access and usage. Many users pay fixed rates for Internet connections, often based upon the bandwidth of the connection, and do not pay for network usage, such as the transfer of data using email, ftp, Gopher or Mosaic. It has been widely reported on certain Internet discussion groups, such as com-priv, that the operators of the NAPs are contemplating a system of usage based pricing. We are very concerned about any movement toward usage based pricing on the Internet, and we are particularly concerned about the future of the Internet Listserves, which allow broad democratic discourse on a wide range of issues. We believe that the continued existence and enhancement of the Internet discussion groups and distribution lists is so important that any pricing scheme for the NAPs that would endanger or restrict their use should be rejected by the NSF. It is important for NSF to recognize that the Internet is more than a network for scientific researchers or commercial transactions. It represents the most important new effort to expand democracy into a wide range of human endeavors. The open communication and the free flow of information have make government and private organizations more accountable, and allowed citizens to organize and debate the widest range of matters. Federal policy should be directed at expanding public access to the Internet, and it should reject efforts to introduce pricing schemes for Internet usage that would mimic commercial telephone networks or expensive private network services such as MCI mail. To put this into perspective, NSF officials must consider how any pricing mechanisms will change the economics of hosting an Internet electronic mail discussion groups and distribution lists. Many of these discussion groups and lists are very large, such as Humanist, GIS-L, CNI-Copyright, PACS-L, CPSR-Announce or Com-Priv. It is not unusual for a popular Internet discussion group to have several thousand members, and send out more than 100,000 email messages per day. These discussion groups and distribution lists are the backbones of democratic discourse on the Internet, and it is doubtful that they would survive if metered pricing of electronic mail is introduced on the Internet. Usage based pricing would also introduce a wide range of problems regarding the use of ftp, gopher and mosaic servers, since it conceivable that the persons who provide "free" information on servers would be asked to pay the costs of "sending" data to persons who request data. This would vastly increase the costs of operating a server site, and would likely eliminate many sources of data now "published" for free. We are also concerned about the types of accounting mechanisms which may be developed or deployed to facilitate usage based pricing schemes., which raise a number of concerns about personal privacy. Few Internet users are anxious to see a new system of "surveillance" that will allow the government or private data vendors to monitor and track individual usage of Information obtained from Internet listserves or fileserves. ANTI-COMPETITIVE PRACTICES We are also concerned about the potential for anti- competitive behavior by the firms that operate the NAPs. Since 1991 there have been a number of criticisms of ANS pricing practices, and concerns about issues such as price discrimination or preferential treatment are likely to become more important as the firms operating the NAPs become competitors of firms that must connect to the NAPs. We are particularly concerned about the announcements by PAC-Bell and Ameritech that they will enter the retail market for Internet services, since both firms were selected by NSF to operate NAPs. It is essential that the contracts signed by NSF include the strongest possible measures to insure that the operators of the NAPs do not unfairly discriminate against unaffiliated companies. Recommendations: As the Internet moves from the realm of the research community to a more vital part of the nation's information infrastructure, the NSF must ensure that its decisions reflect the needs and values of a much larger community. 1. The NSF contracts with the NAPs operators will include clauses that determine how the NAP services will be priced. It is important that NSF disclose and receive comment on all pricing proposals before they become final. NSF should create an online discussion list to facilitate public dialog on the pricing proposals, and NSF should identify its criteria for selecting a particular pricing mechanism, addressing the issue of how the pricing system will impact the Internet's role in facilitating democratic debate. 2. NSF should create a consumer advisory board which would include a broad cross section of consumer interests, including independent network service providers (NSPs), publishers of Internet discussion groups and distribution lists, academic networks, librarians, citizen groups and individual users. This advisory board should review a number of policy questions related to the operation of the Internet, including questions such as the NAP pricing, NAP operator disclosure of financial, technical and operational data, systems of Internet accounting which are being tested on the vBNS and other topics. 3. NSF should solicit public comment, though an online discussion group, of the types of safeguards against anticompetitive behavior by the NAPs which should be addressed in the NSF/NAPs contracts, and on issues such as NAPs pricing and Internet accounting systems. --------------------------------------------------------------------- TAP-INFO is an Internet Distribution List provided by the Taxpayer Assets Project (TAP). TAP was founded by Ralph Nader to monitor the management of government property, including information systems and data, government funded R&D, spectrum allocation and other government assets. TAP-INFO reports on TAP activities relating to federal information policy. tap-info is archived at ftp.cpsr.org; gopher.cpsr.org and wais.cpsr.org Subscription requests to tap-info to listserver@essential.org with the message: subscribe tap-info your name --------------------------------------------------------------------- Taxpayer Assets Project; P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036 v. 202/387-8030; f. 202/234-5176; internet: tap@essential.org --------------------------------------------------------------------- "For I am a cat, and since when has a cat given anyone a straight answer?" From smb@smb.chem.niu.edu Fri May 27 17:41:44 1994 Received: from mp.cs.niu.edu for smb@smb.chem.niu.edu by www.ccl.net (8.6.4/930601.1506) id RAA16752; Fri, 27 May 1994 17:17:21 -0400 Received: from cz2.chem.niu.edu by mp.cs.niu.edu with SMTP id AA29683 (5.67a/IDA-1.5 for <@mp.cs.niu.edu.chem.niu.edu:chemistry@ccl.net>); Fri, 27 May 1994 16:17:19 -0500 Received: from smb.chem.niu.edu by cz2.chem.niu.edu via SMTP (920330.SGI/890607.SGI) (for @mp.cs.niu.edu.chem.niu.edu:chemistry@ccl.net) id AA13893; Fri, 27 May 94 15:27:20 -0500 Received: by smb.chem.niu.edu (920330.SGI/890607.SGI) (for @cz2.chem.niu.edu:chemistry@ccl.net) id AA26170; Fri, 27 May 94 15:27:19 -0500 Date: Fri, 27 May 94 15:27:19 -0500 From: smb@smb.chem.niu.edu (Steven Bachrach) Message-Id: <9405272027.AA26170@smb.chem.niu.edu> To: chemistry@ccl.net Subject: email address book coming online The NIU Gopher/Web site announces a new service for the chemistry community: The Chemistry e-mail address directory This service acts as a phone book listing information provided by members of the community. Since locating current addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, and email addresses is frequently difficult and time-consuming (and requests for such information clutters mailing lists), we have developed a directory service specifically targeted to provide this information for the chemical community. There are two specific features of a good directory service: ease of data entry and search capabilities. We believe we have a system that addresses both issues. Data entry should be very simple and format free. Towards that end, data is entered by sending an email message to chemdir@hackberry.chem.niu.edu with the subject line ADD. The body of the message can be anything, in any format. A typical entry might contain your name, address, phone and fax numbers, email address and perhaps a brief description of your research interests (or whatever you want, just don't make it too long). Entries can be deleted or revised as needed (full instruction follow below). The program will store your address in a file that has your computer identity (i.e. account_name@computer.address). Searching the database is accomplished using WAIS. WAIS is a database engine that indexes all words in a file. This is the reason we can use format free data entry. Access to the search tool is provided by our gopher and www pages. Once you have entered the search section, just enter a search term (like a person's name or university) and the program will return a list of files that contain that term. Simply select the file of interest and it will be displayed for you. We are now soliciting data entries, so if you wish to be listed, please send in your info to chemdir@hackberry.chem.niu.edu. The searching utility will come online on Tuesday May 31. You can then connect via gopher (hackberry.chem.niu.edu port 70) or WWW (http://hackberry.chem.niu.edu:70/0/webpage.html). ************************************************************* Instructions: The NIU Chemistry Directory Manager is a program to automatically manage user's requests to be added to, or removed from the NIU Chemistry Directory. To use the Directory Manager, all you need to do is mail it a message. The 'Subject:' line of the message you send tells the Directory Manager what to do. The Directory Manager recognizes the following commands on the 'Subject:' line: ADD - Adds the message (without headers) as your entry in the NIU Chemistry Directory. DELETE - Deletes your entry from the NIU Chemistry Directory. DEL - Same as DELETE. REPLACE - Replaces your existing entry in the NIU Chemistry Directory with the new message (without headers). REP - Same as REPLACE. The commands may be in upper or lower case, or a mixture of the two. For example, 'add', 'Add', 'aDD', etc. are the same as 'ADD'. It is important to note that 'your' entry is specific to the account that your message was mailed from. For example, if you 'ADD' your entry by mailing from one account, then log into a different account and try to 'DELETE' your entry, you will get a message stating that 'your' entry does not exist. Although this means that it is permissible for you to have more than one entry in the NIU Chemistry Directory, it is recommended that you only have one. You will find that it is much easier to keep your information 'up to date' if you only have to change it once. ***************************************************************** If you have problems or questions, please contact the directory administrator at: admin@hackberry.chem.niu.edu Thanks and we hope you find this convenient and helpful. Steve Steven Bachrach Department of Chemistry Northern Illinois University DeKalb, Il 60115 Phone: (815)753-6863 smb@smb.chem.niu.edu Fax: (815)753-4802