It seems to me that there is genuine value in having the IETF define
terms that distinguish the various types of connectivity, not because
the IETF can (or should try) to enforce anything, but to provide
authoritative normative terminology that might, in some jurisdictions,
help provide a legal basis for egregious cases of false advertising.
In particular, it would be nice to have *some* term like "Full internet
Connectivity" that defines the high-end service that really can't be
credibly claimed by the lower-end services. I'm skeptical, however,
that we can rescue the term "ISP" from the low-end services that
already claim that label. Rather than fight over the pre-existing term
"ISP", why not try to converge on a new term with a more clearly
defined meaning from day one, based on a document from the IETF? After
all, the low-end services can legitimately claim to provide *some*
Internet services, just not *most* of them, which makes them in some
sense "Partial ISP's" and unlikely to give up the "ISP" label
willingly. Instead, we could invent (and try to popularize) a new
term such as "Complete High-End Internet Service Providers" (CHISPs) or
"Providers of Internet General Services" (PIGS). :-)
Anyway, I fear that trying to convince a bunch of low-end providers not
to call themselves ISPs is about hopeless as trying to convince people
who believe in massive budget deficits and preemptive wars not to call
themselves conservatives. -- Nathaniel
On Jun 20, 2004, at 9:43 AM, Masataka Ohta wrote:
Hadmut Danisch;
Do you think a NAT provider an ISP?
But if we had a precise definition and a taxonomy of the
different classes of ISPs,
Then, all the IP and non-IP providers can now leagaly (some
illegaly a little beyond the scope of so generous RFC) say
they are ISPs and most end users have no chance to know the
differences of the taxonomy.
Masataka Ohta
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