Re: About Port Forwarding, Apache and Firewall Rules

["Paul D. Robertson" <paul () compuwar net>]

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004, Jeremiah Cornelius wrote:

> His "Terms of Service" are a minor contract, and may well have been
> unilaterally ammended by the ISP after he became a customer.  This has
> happened in hundreds of reported incidents - especially with cable
> operators, who understand a television broadcast model.

That makes it a contract issue, which he should take up with his provider
or the courts.

The usage policies at companies change over time too, that doesn't mean
you get to ignore the ones that happen after you become employed.

> I don't think there is much of an ethical dilimma in helping this fellow
> out, as long as he is aware that he is risking his service.

I think there is definitely an ethical question here.
> If, in his locale, he can't get an equivalent ISP without such an onerous
> restriction, then his ISP is likely an illegal monopoly.  They block the

Again, the correct venue is the court system.  Dial-up is still available,
with static addresses, so is co-location, hosting, T-1 circuits, and a
bunch of other options.

> ability to serve port 80?  They are out of RFC compliance in providing
> Internet services.  You probably can't get an uneducated court to agree -

Just like every corporate network in existence?

> but I'd claim that what they are providing doesn't meet the definition of
> "Big-I" Internet, and are guilty of contratual bad-faith and
> misrepresentation.

Again, circumventing policy and breaking a contract are not the correct
ways to approach this.

Given that hosting is free or near free, the arguments are weak anyway.

Given the number of already compromised home machines on broadband, I
*definitely* would rather that the generic population were put behind
firewalls, and kept there.  If you need more, then pay for it- my
goodness- the cable company are the only ones providing cable service in
his area- shouldn't he just tap in if he can't afford it?

Contrary to popular opinion, full access to the Internet is neither a
god-given right, nor a necessity.

Paul
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul D. Robertson      "My statements in this message are personal opinions
paul () compuwar net       which may have no basis whatsoever in fact."
probertson () trusecure com Director of Risk Assessment TruSecure Corporation
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