AS8584 taking over the internet

Fri Apr 10 19:42:47 UTC 1998

At 11:51 PM -0400 4/9/98, Randy Bush wrote:
>before we get too hysterical, it may be worth noting that to date the
>problems have been caused by lack of clue, not lack of ethics, morals,
>or empathy.  not that this is reason less for caution, but it might
>guide our reaction towards the actual, as opposed to imagined, problems.

This isn't entirely true. I know of several cases (and they have been
discussed on this list) where bogus routes have been announced with either
malicious, unethical or immoral intentions.  Case 1: bogus announcement to
bring down Cyberpromo (this may have occured more than once). Case 2: bogus
announcements of unallocated space to bypass spam filters, and avoid
identification. Both of these cases were probably done to technically (at
least nominally) clueful people who were generally authorized to advertise
new routes.

I suspect a real terrorist action would be dealt with more quickly.
Perhaps the regularity of hosage means that a terrorist action wouldn't
really have much effect, so perhaps there isn't too much to worry about.
(terrorists don't attack trains that derail on a weekly basis anyway, and
China Air has never had a terrorist threat...)

But whatever the solution, it can probably be taken advantage of by the
multitude of authorized people.  What is needed is better auditing so that
the people who make the mistakes, either honestly or on purpose, are
punished appropriately for their mistakes.  Punishment must work
internationally.  Perhaps what we need is a UN Internet Tribunal.

		--Dean

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