IP: In search of the lost Internet

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: "Bob Frankston" <BobRMFxix () Bobf Frankston com>
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 12:10:06 -0500
To: "Dave Farber" <farber () cis upenn edu>
Subject: In search of the lost Internet

[Dave: I realize you don¹t normally forward opinion pieces like this rather
than pointers to third party pieces but this might help in framing a number
of the other oft-discussed issues. At some point I do need to articulate the
relationships between the Internet and other public policies in that the
End-to-End principles are about a lot more than just one packet network.
Though E2E itself is a risky term since it sounds too much like a
Womb-to-Tomb middle-based policy.]

 

With the IETF meeting this week, it¹s worth thinking about what the Internet
is or, in my opinion, where it went. There is still a lot of value and
excitement associated with the Internet but much of that is focused on the
Web and Email rather than recognizing that these are (merely?) applications
built upon a very simple Internet. But that simple Internet is missing ­
most participants are hidden between Firewalls and NATs. The network
transports often don¹t guarantee the integrity of connections and often
attempt to ³help² by second-guessing the content.

 

We really ran out of IP addresses years ago when we could no longer assure
that everyone could get as many IP addresses as needed. Even within a home a
single address must be shared among potentially hundreds (or more) devices.

 

I explain this better in http://www.satn.org/about/missinginternet.htm. In
addition to redefining telecom in terms of connectivity, we must emphasize
encrypted IPV6 connectivity now using the existing IPV4 backbone. Improving
the backbone is just a matter of efficiency where as the availability of
addresses at the edges is what gives us the ability to continue to innovate.

 

Bob Frankston 
http://www.Frankston.com

 


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