69/8 problem -- Would CNN care?

Thu Mar 13 02:59:27 UTC 2003

From: "Avleen Vig"

> Let's spin this argument on it's head for a moment and look at it from
> another view point:
>
> What you're facing, is opposition from neglegent and / or lazy network
> administrators.
> Going up against them is always difficult. Believe me, I know.
>
I consider this the same view. It is difficult. My objection is to the fact
that people complain concerning the increase in posts (which I am obligated
to read almost all of them) while I'm trying to pull resources that I don't
personally possess, ie. the ideas and abilities of NANOG participators.

> So, lets look at a hypothetical situation:
> CNN (or someone) reports that someone within 69/8 is generating most of
> the spam, or distributing most of the world's viruses, or something
> equally stupid that the mass media occassionally spurts out.
>
Primary blocking of 69/8 is not caused from mass media. It is caused from
old router configs. Mass media might be the way out. Having said that, I do
block networks in 69/8 for spam and viruses. :)

> What do you do then? Get CNN to retract the story? That own't accomplish
> anything really and we all know it.
>
Retractions aren't news. People don't notice them. This is news worthy, as
it affects a service that people have grown to depend on in their daily
lives. Even if it conflicts with another new story (wouldn't be the first
time), it should be put out and with enough force that every day people are
aware of it, which will mean some firewalls will get checked.

> This is not a technical problem, so technical means (centralised
> filtering) won't work.
The idea of Centralized filtering isn't to solve the current issue, but to
hopefully develop a solution that can help prevent this problem in the
future.

> Neither is it a policy problem, people are free to filter what they
> like.
They are allowed to, but most are filtering out of ignorance. They wouldn't
be filtering if they had the clue.

> There's a very fine line between filtering a network out on purpose, and
> neglegently not removing filters when space is allocated. From some view
> points, they're one and the same thing.
>
Yes, I agree. Yet, my personal goal is to have neither where my network is
concerned. I work long hours, have my personal time interrupted (including
vacations) to maintain my network and make it the best that I can. I work
hard to please my users as well as other networks at the same time, even
though their desires often conflict. It is this very reason that the 69/8
threads interest me. I am not alone in these things. As a community, we need
to be proactive with these issues and not just reactive. Waiting for the
customer to complain is not the ideal solution. Perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps
we don't possess the intellect to solve such problems. We can't solve the
spam problem, so why should we be able to solve this?

-Jack