Lucky Green writes:
At 9:48 4/10/96, Duncan Frissell wrote: [...]
We know that governments would like to impose things like the Simple Tax Transfer Protocol on the Net as well as Is A Person (and Is A Minor) Protocols.
There is one thing about the proposed minor flag addition to IP that I don't understand. [No, I am not surprised by this. Mandatory authorization to establish a connection and an "Internet Driver License", probably in the form or a smart card are coming].
If my computer creates the IP packet, what is there to prevent me from modifying the value of the "Minor/Adult" flag at my leisure?
Yikes! Don't lend it the credibility of calling it "proposed". Someone might think you're serious. "Suggested" is as far as I'd go.
Anyway, you computer creates the IP packet, but then sends it to your ISP's router. That router *always* makes changes to the packet header because it must decrement the time-to-live field and recompute the header checksum. The ISP's router software would (in the scenario I suggested, but deplore), based on to whom it's connected, set the drivers licence flag as it sees fit. When a PPP account of a "minor" sends a packet, the router always inserts "minor". When the account of an adult sends it, it inserts "adult". When the account of a partner who has contractually accepted liability for the flag's setting sends a packet, it leaves it alone.
How would this work in my case? I have a Pipeline 25 ISDN router in my house. I have several computers, used by myself, my wife, and my kids, connected via Ethernet to the p25. The router talks to my provider. I have _one_ account at my provider. Multiple IP #s, multiple machines, multiple users, ONE account. Which router will insert the "suggested" flag, and how will it decide which packets to tag? I suspect the people who thought this up haven't thought it through. :-) They are confusing "ISP accounts" with "e-mail" addresses, maybe? My setup may be unusual, but it's certainly not unique. -- Marshall Marshall Clow Aladdin Systems <mailto:mclow@mailhost2.csusm.edu> "Eternal vigilance is the price of PostScript" -- MacUser Jan 96 DTP and Graphics column