At 07:56 PM 9/26/00 +0100, Lloyd Wood wrote:
Beg to differ. Encapsulation makes the VPN virtual.
Encryption ensures that the VPN is private.
All networks are privately managed, whether virtual or not; referring
to that explicitly seems a bit pointless to me...
while your explanation is entirely logical and reasonable, it does not
match the actual history of the term.
the term vpn has always been independent use of encryption.
although ISPs, and their cohorts, are legally private, the thing referred
to as "The Internet" is considered to be a public network. (not in the ITU
or legal sense, but in terms of broad, open access.)
historically there was -- and pretty much still is -- a distinction between
public (open) and private networks. When the network runs on top of
another network, rather than using its own wires, it is called
virtual. hence the composed term "virtual private".
again, encryption is an important function, but it has always been an added
feature to vpn's, rather than an inherent component.
d/