[#135346] Unauthorized BGP Announcements (follow up to Hijacked Networks)

Wed Feb 1 22:43:26 UTC 2012

On 2/1/12 1:13 PM, Mark Andrews wrote:
> In message <20120201201012.GE10680 at hiwaay.net>, Chris Adams writes:
>> Once upon a time, George Bonser <gbonser at seven.com> said:
>>> Let's say I had a business in space in a building I was leasing at 100 Main
>>  Street, Podunk, USA.  Now let's say you didn't renew the lease so I moved to
>>  a building up the block but put the 100 Main Street address on my new locati
>> on and continued to use that address for my business.
>>
>> That's covered under trespassing laws.
>>
>>> Or let's say I operated a TV station on channel 37 that was allocated to yo
>> u but you terminate my operating contract.  So I lease/erect a new transmitte
>> r and continue broadcasting on channel 37.
>>
>> That's covered under FCC regulations on use of public spectrum.
>>
>> AFAIK there's no law covering the use of what party X considers their 32
>> bit numbers (assigned by party A) by party Y.
> 
> If you present a false letter of authority you are committing fraud.
> If you continue to use address after the lease is up it is trespass
> / theft / breach of contract.
> 
> I'm sure there are lots more laws that can apply.  Counterfieting,
> wire fraud.  Breaches of various Telecommunication Acts, etc.  You
> might have juristictional issues.
> 
> In the case of the Internet we have a authority for handing out
> numbers for use on  the Internet (IANA).  Courts all over the world
> do recognise that authority directly or indirectly by recognising
> the RIRs.
> 
> There are enough analogs in common law to almost everything that
> happens on the Internet for there to no be the need for specific
> "Internet" laws.   It's just that having a "Internet" law makes it
> easier to prosecute.
> 

Phoenix NAP colluding to hijack address space and then balking when it
was brought to their attention is a perfect example someone could use to
say why "we" need to be regulated. And I'm sure it will eventually
happen again with different players. Either we all play nice and
self-regulate or someone else will start doing it for us, and probably
not in a way we'll be happy with but have to learn to live with.

~Seth