Hi Hadmut,
On Sat, 19 Jun 2004 11:42:23 +0200
Hadmut Danisch <hadmut(_at_)danisch(_dot_)de> wrote:
Hi,
at least here in Germany Internet providers tend to
do and not to do what they want.
- Some cut off their clients every 24 hours (DSL)
- Some block or slowdown particular tcp ports
to get rid of peer-to-peer file sharing
- Some redirect the first web access to any site
to their own to force you to read their ads
- Very few support multicast. When I asked my
own provider, they didn't even know what this is.
(They said 'no, because they don't support Linux'.)
- IPv6? Huh? What's that?
- At least one large provider blocks port 25 to certain IP
addresses in order to force you to use the provider's
mail relay and have the sender e-mail address replaced
by the customers default address at the provider's domain.
They say it's against spam, but I guess it's because they
take money for opening the port and allowing to use
SMTP and such any sender domain.
- ...
So it would be good to have some kind of
standard or definition, what exactly an
internet provider has to do and what to refrain
from.
I tend to come up with the answer to your question the following way :
(Q) What is the "Internet" ?
(A) A global network that runs the "Internet Protocols", and follows the
Internet architecture.
(Q) What is the Internet architecture ?
(A) It is described in RFC1958 - "Architectural Principles of the Internet"
(http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1958.html).
(Q) What does an Internet Service Provider do ?
(A) Provides access to the "Internet".
(Q) What if the "Internet Service Provider" doesn't provide access to the
Internet in a way that follows RFC1958 ?
(A) They aren't providing access to the Internet, so I think they shouldn't be
calling themselves an "Internet" service provider.
A number of things you describe, such as blocking port 25, redirecting URLs
etc. do not follow RFC1958. I don't consider those organisations to be
true ISPs, and I don't give them my "Internet" access business, as they don't
seem to be prepared to properly provide it.
Regards,
Mark.
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