botnets: web servers, end-systems and Vint Cerf [LONG, sorry]

Mon Feb 19 17:16:57 UTC 2007

>> I look forward to your paper on "the end to end concept, and
>> why it doesn't
>> apply to email" ;)

I think the problem here is that people invoke something they think  
of as 'the end-to-end principle', but actually isn't.

from <http://web.mit.edu/Saltzer/www/publications/endtoend/ 
endtoend.pdf>:

-----

  . . .  functions placed at low levels of a system may be redundant  
or of little
value when compared with the cost of providing them at that low level.

-----

*That* is the actual 'end-to-end principle'.  The imposition of  
hierarchy in application-layer email routing (or DNS infrastructure,  
etc.) has nothing to do with the actual end-to-end principle, except  
as a good example of honoring it.

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Roland Dobbins <rdobbins at cisco.com> // 408.527.6376 voice

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