[ih] European and Asian participation around 1989

[Craig Simon]

Hi all,

I recently heard about an incident in which a number of European and 
Asian networks briefly lost their connections to the Internet in 1989 or 
1990. Someone in the US Government apparently decided that the registry 
functions then being sponsored through the DOD should not be used to 
support services for connections outside the US. This presumably 
accelerated the process of transferring responsibility for the funding 
of registry services to the NSF.

Is this story on the mark at all? Can anyone here clarify the background 
of this?

Thanks,

Craig Simon