NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Re: "Deep Packet Inspection" Trade Group
The post office doesn't inspect my letters -- it just follows the
instructions on the envelope. Let's not pervert the language.
I also don't want to get into a round of arguments over routing because
today's Internet is just the prototype and not a religious text. The central
issue is that the current transports are controlled by those who see routing
in terms of figuring out future behavior from past behavior -- the essence
of circuit based networking.
I don't claim to be the expert in the bowels of today's routing system but
much of the complexity (as with paging in ancient computing systems) is due
to operating under severe scarcity.
We're using a very small portion of the capacity of today's networks (again,
I don't want to get into an argument about the transoceanic constrictions --
if they are an issue).
My contention is that with sufficient capacity routing is relatively simply
-- local knowledge with the simplicity of spanning in single logical or
physical hops.
As I've noted -- the hard problem is keeping costs down so you don't have to
pay others prices. That's but one example of the problems caused by those
given control of the transport.
-----Original Message-----
From: nnsquad-bounces+nnsquad=bobf.frankston.com@nnsquad.org
[mailto:nnsquad-bounces+nnsquad=bobf.frankston.com@nnsquad.org] On Behalf Of
Brett Glass
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 21:59
To: Brett Glass; Bob Frankston; 'Lauren Weinstein'; nnsquad@nnsquad.org
Subject: [ NNSquad ] Re: "Deep Packet Inspection" Trade Group
At 07:26 PM 2/12/2008, Lauren Weinstein wrote:
> [ Buzzzz! Straw man alert triggered by above text ...
> All packet "inspections" are not created equal. The issue
> in play is the "depth" and other parameters of any given
> inspection. Shallow or deep? Necessary or intrusive?
> Disclosed or secretive? Legal or illegal? The list goes on,
> and involves not only technology and economics, but increasingly
> politics as well.
> -- Lauren Weinstein
> NNSquad Moderator ]
I disagree; there's no straw man here. Some advocates of expanded
definitions
of "network neutrality," and also the group often referred to as "orthodox
end-to-endians," do not want even the header information to be considered
by the network, especially when making decisions about traffic management,
throttling, port blocking, P2P mitigation, and/or abuse detection.
--Brett Glass
[ Virtually any argument can be taken to extremes. The point remains
that
there is a continuum of issues involved in packet inspections, and the
acceptability of a particular type of inspection at one layer does not
imply that other inspections at that or other layers are automatically
themselves acceptable.
-- Lauren Weinstein
NNSquad Moderator ]