[ NNSquad ] Re: Google Hijacked -- Major ISP to Intercept and Modify Web Pages

[Rahul Tongia <tongia@cmu.edu>]

{From the yet more postal analogies department]

A subtle point in why the post may be a good approximation (compared to 
fedex) is when we consider *global* post - sending a letter from 
Pittsburgh to a small town in Ghana.  The US post sends it to Ghana Post 
(maybe through London, Nigeria,...), where they don't really have 
control over how fast Ghana post is with something labeled "air mail". 
In contrast, FedEx tries to have its own network, or its 
subcontractors/partners are on a tight leash in terms of 
deliverables/timeframes.

Can we expect equivalent service everywhere, at every link, in the 
Internet? I don't think so.  What we want is predictability and 
transparency, first and foremost.

If my mail carrier said, sorry, your package to Village XYZ in Ghana 
will be a little slower than everyone else's, I'd be upset.  If my local 
carrier said *everyone's* package going to Ghana would be slow, I'd want 
to know if it were something at their end or the Ghanaian end. 
Ultimately, in a competitive world (which the posts are not, and much of 
the Internet isn't), if there were some aspect of service that I didn't 
like, I'd be able to take my business elsewhere.  If only...

Rahul

p.s. From what I understand, in the telephony and postal world, there 
are negotiations as to who pays how much for settlement (e.g., sharing 
of the 50(?) cents Intl. stamp for an international letter). With 
phones, the retail rates can vary per country. BUT, once the rates are 
fixed, the original carrier is not allowed to discriminate based on the 
rates (?).

************************************************************************
Rahul Tongia, Ph.D.
Senior Systems Scientist

Program in Computation, Organizations, and Society (COS)
School of Computer Science (ISR) /
Dept. of Engineering & Public Policy

Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA
tel: 412-268-5619
fax: 412-268-2338
email: tongia@cmu.edu
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rtongia



Robb Topolski wrote:
>  > Unlike the postal system and the telephone system which have developed
>  > many ways to add additional information, the Internet is severly lacking.
>
> Allow me to disagree, as there are plenty of messages available for use.
>
>  > The post office adds stamp to letters with all sorts of messages about
>  > postage due,
>
> ICMP TTL or timer expired enroute -- or whatever mechanism currently
> used to notify users of bills due
>
>  > return to sender,
>
> ICMP no route to host
>
>  > disaster area - no forwarding address,
>
> ICMP restricted by cut-off
>
>  > and even cute "advertising-like" cancellations.
>
> Like ads inserted at the bottom of Yahoo Mail, Organization: headers
>
>  > The telephone system has
>  > multiple types of busy signals
>
> TCP RST in response to SYN
>
>  > and special information messages about all
>  > circuits are busy,
>
> ICMP No route to host, ICMP Source Quench, ICMP Timer expired, TCP ECN
> or just drop the TCP packet
>
>  > line restricted to only emergency calls, due to an
>  > earthquake in the area please wait and try your call later.
>
> ICMP cut-off in effect, no route to host, or drop the SYN packet and
> let the connection attempt time out.
>
> There often are two or three methods in the standards for the same
> purposes.  And if something isn't covered, then there is The Internet
> Society and the IETF and a whole RFC process that should be followed
> before unleashing something new.
>
> To torture this Post Office metaphor a bit more, it's not just about
> the contents.  Nobody should have the right to tear away my "First
> Class" stamp and relabel it as "Bulk" because that classification
> tends to satisfy their own purposes.
>
> To me it's even simpler: What am I paying my ISP to do?