The ITU 1988 Melbourne Conference: Economic Factors in International Cooperation and the Growth of the Internet

This paper reviews the revisions to the data communications parts of the International telecommunications Regulations adopted at this conference. These two bedrock normative rules: 1) open interconnection of devices of all kinds; and 2) resale and sharing of dedicated facilities allowed many alternative methods of international data communications to flourish. This network openness enabled but did not guarantee the ultimate success of the Internet. The paper indicates that the linage of the internet to the norms of open science.was strongly complementary to it ultimate success.