On Dec 6, 2005, at 12:59 AM, Peter J. Holzer wrote:
On 2005-12-05 10:50:29 -0800, Douglas Otis wrote:
There could be a minor concern regarding the use of the term
blacklist. This could create additional expenditures explaining how
an IP black-hole list (terminology used in BGP) is different from the
blacklisting of an individual, as such definitions carry significant
legal importance. It may be helpful to substitute to the term
"black-
hole list" for "blacklist."
I don't think so. The terms "blacklist" and "whitelist" have well
defined meanings. A blacklist is a list of known bad guys (well,
usually
not guys, but IP addresses, domain names, email addresses, public keys
or whatever your list contains) by some criteria, while a whitelist
is a
list of known good guys. What you do with those lists is up to you.
The term "blackhole list" otoh suggests strongly the purpose of the
list: The addresses on the list should be blackholed, i.e., any
traffic
from (and maybe to) them dropped.
Black-holing is exactly how the BGP version of the list works. All
traffic is "black-holed" for that IP address. The term blacklist
also has other legal meanings that should be avoided if possible.
Black-hole is more illustrative of the treatment given the traffic,
rather than suggesting this involves an individual as referenced in
various laws. As this can result in extended legal argument, rather
than less expensive debates on a list-server, the misapplication of
blacklisting law could be avoided by not using this term. I know
black-hats are usually what the bad guys wear, but black-hole and
block list would be safer terminology, nevertheless.
-Doug
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