Is this the new Y2K scam?

[Henry Spencer]

On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 waltdnes-SLHPyeZ9y/tg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org wrote:
> > The internet is a community of peers.  Resist the pressure to make it
> > a "market" with consumers and a priviledged producer class.
> > See this sad announcement: <http://fourmilab.ch/speakfree/eol/>
> 
>   1) Why do *DESKTOP USERS* need fixed IP addresses *AT THEIR PLACE
> OF EMPLOYMENT* ???  What servers/peers do their job descriptions call
> for them to run ???

See the URL Hugh quoted for one example of a server they might want to
run:  a receiver for voice-over-IP phone calls.  More generally, any
service which must be interactive, which can't run in a store-and-forward
mode like mail, needs to go direct.  Mail is the exception, not the rule.

Of course, if you define the environment to include NAT, there will be no
such services, so you will have difficulty finding any examples.  Likewise
if you define the situation so that all legitimate peers are inside the
NAT barrier... which is not a safe assumption in general. 

>   2) If corporations didn't grab static public IP addresses for their
> desktops (and then firewall the daylights out of the gateway) there
> might actually be some static IP address left over for ISPs to hand out
> to *RESIDENTIAL* users.

While I don't have actual data on hand, I suspect there are fewer of the
former than of the latter already.

> > Surely LINUX users understand this.
> 
>   The crowd on this list understands.  Unfortunately, most users are
> incapable of properly securing their machines.

Uh, true, but what has that got to do with static IP addresses?  (Anyone
who runs a NAT box could run a firewall instead.)

                                                          Henry Spencer
                                                       henry-lqW1N6Cllo0sV2N9l4h3zg at public.gmane.org

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