Firewall Wizards mailing list archives
Re: Killing Napster and beyond...
From: Chris Cappuccio <chris () empnet com>
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 17:28:31 -0700 (PDT)
On 16 Oct 2000, Todd Schroeder wrote: | Back in February there was some discussion on killing Napster. Time has | passed and now there are several other products that present similar | problems. Mojo Nation, Scour, and Gnutella to name a few. | I am opposed to this sort of blocking as a policy for several reasons, so let me spill some poison as to why it ain't gonna happen in any comprehensive way that keeps you happy. So far, most of the blocking works by what we can already do easily... 1. Block packets to/from IP address ranges of known servers 2. Block packets to TCP/UDP ports which are known as servers for these services Problems with 1. - What else are you blocking ?? 2. - Any other service that uses the same port will not work Both. - IPs can change, if the client points to a DNS name then it can change as often as it wants to - Ports can change, especially if the service is designed to work around port-based limitations Solution ? Subscription-based blocking service. This is a kludge, requires frequent changes to your router/firewall, and is basically ugly. Solution ? NFR type filter which can recognize this kind of traffic and block it off ? High overhead, requires frequent updates on router/firewall, and is basically ugly. | I was curious how others are handling these. Has anyone been successful | in blocking these programs? Is anyone else concerned about them? | Maybe a couple of universities who see Napster-type services as a large percentage of their traffic... For the most part, the only people I can imagine who would be concerned about this are the same people who are concerned about blocking porn on the web and that sort of stuff. IP was designed to work around these sorts of limitations, not with them. -- Chris Cappuccio 920 SW Emkay Dr. Direct +1 541-330-4345 Network Engineer Suite C-104 Corp +1 541-317-3437 Empire Net, Inc. Bend, OR 97702 USA Fax +1 541-317-3402 "If you don't turn on to politics, politics will turn on you" - Ralph Nader _______________________________________________ firewall-wizards mailing list firewall-wizards () nfr com http://www.nfr.com/mailman/listinfo/firewall-wizards
Current thread:
- Killing Napster and beyond... Todd Schroeder (Oct 16)
- Re: Killing Napster and beyond... Chris Cappuccio (Oct 18)
- Re: Killing Napster and beyond... Bruce M. Walker (Oct 19)
- Re: Killing Napster and beyond... R. DuFresne (Oct 18)
- Re: Killing Napster and beyond... Brad Van Orden (Oct 19)
- RE: Killing Napster and beyond... David O'Shea (Oct 19)
- Re: Killing Napster and beyond... R. DuFresne (Oct 19)
- RE: Killing Napster and beyond... Alan Young (Oct 19)
- Re: Killing Napster and beyond... Robert Collins (Oct 20)
- Re: Killing Napster and beyond... spiff (Oct 20)
- Re: Killing Napster and beyond... Joseph S D Yao (Oct 23)
- Re: Killing Napster and beyond... Brad Van Orden (Oct 19)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: Killing Napster and beyond... David Hassilev (Oct 19)
(Thread continues...)
- Re: Killing Napster and beyond... Chris Cappuccio (Oct 18)