rishab@dxm.ernet.in says:
hughes@ah.com (Eric Hughes):
Speaking of long-term integration on the internet, might it not be a good idea to get some IP address range assigned for dc-net use?
I don't agree. Apart from the IP address crunch that already poses a problem for the IETF, I don't see why DC-Nets should be limited to specially allocated addresses. DC-Nets should be implemented a layer over protocols such as IP, or as extensions to them. It should be possible for _anyone_, regardless of IP address (officially allocated DC-Net number) to connect with _any_ others on a DCN, with some software or other interfacing.
1) Were DC nets to be considered an important service, Rishab's comment would be correct -- one can put things on top of other protocols much more easily. 2) To be interesting, DC nets require physically secure transmission between neighbors. Given that the internet is not physically secure, I'm not sure DC nets are going to run on the bare net any time soon. Presumably one time pads could be used to implement DC nets in order to maintain "unconditional" security or public keys could be used to maintain "good" security. Perry