andardized, universal point-to-point communications. If the distinction betwee content industries and point-to-point communications remains fundamental, and if the information economy is primarily about the latter services, then private, competitive institutions may become dysfunctional and marginalized in the information economy. 18 Moreover, established businesses interests may strongly resist change if they perceive ne viable business models for exploiting new technological opportunities A dynamic, innovative communications industry needs a propitious environment for commercial provision of content and services on the Internet. A well-recognized challenge currently associated with commercial Internet content and services is that ersons have become accustomed to getting such content and services for free. Many Internet users are unwilling, because of what they have learned through their past use of Internet services, to consider seriously providing money as part of an exchange associated with particular Internet content or services. Services that cost money are not considered worthy of attention. In addition, privacy rights, transaction terms, and use rights associated with digital content lack legitimated standards that economize on human attention. These features of current attentional economics undoubtedly cause a substantial reduction in the multiplicity of socially valued digital content and services They also lessen the opportunities for creating jobs and economic opportunity in the information sector of the economy Government communications often are not recognized as being a important policy instrument for fostering the development of an information society. Governments that sell information tend to charge high prices and engage in little marketing effort. This approach naturally leads to other government agencies being the largest customers for government information, low over-all sales, and failure to recover costs of generating the As pointed out in Galbi, Douglas, "the price of telecom competition, info vol I no. 2(April 1999) dvertising and promotional expenses for US long-distance telephone companies in a single year are about the same magnitude as the total capital cost of building a national network that could provide all residents of the US free long distance telephone service. Point-to-point communications are highly valued, but the is plummeting. Thats why most analysts consider consumer long-distance telephone services, which costs of providing standard, point-to-point communications services, apart from marketing and promoting generated about $30 billion in revenue in 1997, to be a dying business. See also, Galbi, Douglas RegulatingPricesforShiftingBetweenServiceProviders,draftavailableonhttp://www.galbithink.org revised version forthcoming in Information Economics and polie The growth of government-owned networks reflects this dynamic. Similarly, discussions of the"end-to- end"principle and"open access"often implicitly present a single, universal public common-carrier network as the industry configuration that best serves the public interest A recent Wall Street Journal article described the following comment as typical of those on Napster's message boards following its announcement that it would be developing a fee-based service NapsterFREE/If Napster decides to not= free any longer then I will switch to another freebie/There are many out there .../The Internet is a great place, you can get whatever you want on here. No matter what /Free Free Free. The article then went on to note: Such a sentiment can only leave one wondering which battle cry for the Internet will ultimately win out: Live free or die, or"Live free and die. Kara Swisher, "Sites Eschew Giveaways in Favor of Charging, December 4, 2000 20 For example, considerable attention would be required to evaluate a website's privacy statement without any additional information about its normal status 88 standardized, universal point-to-point communications.17 If the distinction between content industries and point-to-point communications remains fundamental, and if the information economy is primarily about the latter services, then private, competitive institutions may become dysfunctional and marginalized in the information economy.18 Moreover, established businesses interests may strongly resist change if they perceive no viable business models for exploiting new technological opportunities. A dynamic, innovative communications industry needs a propitious environment for commercial provision of content and services on the Internet. A well-recognized challenge currently associated with commercial Internet content and services is that persons have become accustomed to getting such content and services for free.19 Many Internet users are unwilling, because of what they have learned through their past use of Internet services, to consider seriously providing money as part of an exchange associated with particular Internet content or services. Services that cost money are not considered worthy of attention. In addition, privacy rights, transaction terms, and use rights associated with digital content lack legitimated standards that economize on human attention.20 These features of current attentional economics undoubtedly cause a substantial reduction in the multiplicity of socially valued digital content and services. They also lessen the opportunities for creating jobs and economic opportunity in the information sector of the economy. Government communications often are not recognized as being a important policy instrument for fostering the development of an information society. Governments that sell information tend to charge high prices and engage in little marketing effort. This approach naturally leads to other government agencies being the largest customers for government information, low over-all sales, and failure to recover costs of generating the 17 As pointed out in Galbi, Douglas, “the price of telecom competition,” info vol. 1 no. 2 (April 1999), advertising and promotional expenses for US long-distance telephone companies in a single year are about the same magnitude as the total capital cost of building a national network that could provide all residents of the US free long distance telephone service. Point-to-point communications are highly valued, but the costs of providing standard, point-to-point communications services, apart from marketing and promoting, is plummeting. That’s why most analysts consider consumer long-distance telephone services, which generated about $30 billion in revenue in 1997, to be a dying business. See also, Galbi, Douglas, “Regulating Prices for Shifting Between Service Providers,” draft available on http://www.galbithink.org , revised version forthcoming in Information Economics and Policy. 18 The growth of government-owned networks reflects this dynamic. Similarly, discussions of the “end-to￾end” principle and “open access” often implicitly present a single, universal public common-carrier network as the industry configuration that best serves the public interest. 19 A recent Wall Street Journal article described the following comment as typical of those on Napster’s message boards following its announcement that it would be developing a fee-based service: “Napster=FREE/If Napster decides to not = free any longer then I will switch to another freebie/There are many out there. …/The Internet is a great place, you can get whatever you want on here. No matter what./Free Free Free.” The article then went on to note: “Such a sentiment can only leave one wondering which battle cry for the Internet will ultimately win out: “Live free or die,” or “Live free and die.” Kara Swisher, “Sites Eschew Giveaways in Favor of Charging”, December 4, 2000. 20 For example, considerable attention would be required to evaluate a website’s privacy statement without any additional information about its normal status