CorydonCultivant son jardinPremium
join:2008-02-18
Denver, CO | reply to fAcEtIOUs
Re: Hmmm... I'd say that the underlying assumption, that we need some kind of net neutrality, is sound regardless of the reasons for the temporary "ban".
Last night, AT&T demonstrated that they can block access to a particular site and that, under certain circumstances (whatever those may be), they are willing to block access to certain sites.
In this case, apparently 4chan was blocked because it was the target of an ongoing DDOS attack. Well what kind of message does that send to attackers? That if they make life hard enough for a big enough ISP, they actually do have the power to shut down access to their targeted site?
That's a recipe to guarantee that these attacks continue and, if anything, get worse. Who do the script kiddies target next? The RNC? The White House? AT&T just set a bad precedent.
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| said by Corydon:I'd say that the underlying assumption, that we need some kind of net neutrality, is sound regardless of the reasons for the temporary "ban". Last night, AT&T demonstrated that they can block access to a particular site and that, under certain circumstances (whatever those may be), they are willing to block access to certain sites. In this case, apparently 4chan was blocked because it was the target of an ongoing DDOS attack. Well what kind of message does that send to attackers? That if they make life hard enough for a big enough ISP, they actually do have the power to shut down access to their targeted site? That's a recipe to guarantee that these attacks continue and, if anything, get worse. Who do the script kiddies target next? The RNC? The White House? AT&T just set a bad precedent. I don't see it that way. The site is back up - probably after AT&T & the web site putting mitigation measures in place to blunt the effect of the DDOS attacks. A reasonable response to what occurred.
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 FBGuyyippee ki yayPremium
join:2005-03-19 | it does not matter why they blocked it. the point is is that they proved they have the means to do it and are willing to do it. net neutrality takes that job away from them. |
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| Not if they claim the offender is attacking their network or their customers. |
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 DennisPremium,Mod
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Algonquin, IL
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Chicago
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said by FBGuy:the point is is that they proved they have the means to do it and are willing to do it. net neutrality takes that job away from them. AT&T controls the routing within their network and peering routers via something you might have heard of called the IP protocol (TCP and UDP). They have always had the ability to control where traffic flows...everyone has, it's how the internet works.
Net neutrality is a seperate issue and to be quite frank if you can't understand that you shouldn't really comment on it. The issues surrounding net neutrality don't have to do with blocking certain websites (although they can) but rather imparing or giving the ISP some type of unfair advantage that upsets the playing field.
This whole situation is really just being overblown.
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 SLDPremium
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA | Whoh....nice bitch-slap, man! |
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 funchordsHelloPremium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA
kudos:5 | reply to FBGuy
said by FBGuy:it does not matter why they blocked it. the point is is that they proved they have the means to do it and are willing to do it. net neutrality takes that job away from them. I think that 4chan was the focus of a DDOS attack and the node was, innocently, sending back ACKs to the forged SYNs it received. If true, that's a good enough reason for AT&T to null route that IP and it's not a Network Neutrality issue at all.
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dynodbPremium,VIP
join:2004-04-21
Minneapolis, MN | Right, because the kiddies at 4chan would never, ever be involved in perpetrating a DoS attack  |
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FBGuyyippee ki yayPremium
join:2005-03-19 | reply to Dennis
AT&T is my dumb pipe, i wish that they would stay that way. |
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DennisPremium,Mod
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| said by FBGuy:AT&T is my dumb pipe, i wish that they would stay that way. I agree...at least in theory.
AT&T is not now, nor has it been since 2003 a dumb pipe. They currently block ports 135, 139 and 445. They've also started blocking port 25 to cut down on spammers. None of these ports have met with any resistance because it was generally accepted that it was to protect the end user.
When an ISP changes the way IP's route for a specific situation (such as this) it is usually alway to mitigate a negative situation. They do it all the time the only difference this time is a group of people noticed and complained.
If every ISP was only a dump pipe (which again in theory I agree with) then the internet would be basically unusable. DDoS attacks, man in the middle and good old fashioned UDP packets of death would run rampant and we'd all still be on AOL 3.0.
There needs to be a balance between protection and nurturing...almost like being a good parent. That's going to be a difficult balance for any ISP.
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