NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Re: Is network unneutrality necessarily bad?
There are ways of doing this right - check out what sonic.net does. They offer three *user selectable* levels of blocking for things like port 25 and netbios as well as a wide open option for people (like me) who run their own mail servers. Full info here http://www.sonic.net/features/firewall/
This brings up an interesting question. What about deliberate blocking for virii, bots, etc? For instance, many ISPs now block port 25 outbound to all but the local mail server. Other ISPs block the Netbios protocols.
Personally, I think those blocks help in many cases. I'm not sure there are legitimate reasons to use Netbios across the Internet, and port 587 is acceptable for MSA support.
John
[ John's last point relates directly my previous comments about privacy and
security. In general, courts have been setting a much lower threshold
for outside access to e-mail on third-party servers than for e-mail
stored on systems under users' direct control where e-mail merely
transited third-party systems. This doesn't mean using third party mail
services is inappropriate (some are very powerful) but the option should
be up to each individual user. When port 25 is blocked, exercising the
option of running your own mail servers becomes extremely difficult. And
frankly, I reject the notion that only "business class" users should have
that capability, not well-behaved consumer class users. Perhaps a more
honest way for restricted Internet services to be marketed would be as
"Internet Light" or some such. -- Lauren Weinstein
NNSquad Moderator ]