Text 7554, 89 rader
Skriven 2005-03-21 06:20:34 av FidoNews Robot (2:2/2.0)
Ärende: FidoNews 22:12 [02/06]: General Articles
================================================
=================================================================
                        GENERAL ARTICLES
=================================================================

            A snake in the grass of a free DNS service

            By Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)

Many who wish to run servers on the InterNet are faced with the
problem that their ISP will only give them a dynamic IP address or
that they charge an unreasonable amount for a static IP.

The solution is easy: make use of a DNS service. Even if one has a
static IP this is convenient as a name is easier to remember than a
number. "felten.dyndns.org" is much better suited for humans than
81.224.185.115.

Some of the companies that offer a DNS service offer a limited number
of host names for free for private use. One of the most popular among
FidoNet members is Dynamic Network Services. The nodelist has over a
hundred entries that make use of one of their domains. The most
popular is dyndns.org, but there are more. Some others are
dnsalias.org, dnsalias.net and ath.cx. The complete list of domains
available from Dynamic Network Service can be seen at
http://www.dyndns.org/services/dns/dyndns/domains.html

I have never heard of any FidoNet member having a serious problem with
Dynamic Network Service. That is until Yesterday...

Friday, March 18 2005, somewhere between 12:00 and 18:00 UTC, Dynamic
Network Services redirected the host name "felten.dyndns.org" from its
true IP address to 10.0.1.128. Thereby making the servers of our
FidoNews editor unaccessible via that host name. They did this without
notice. Just like that. Friday morning it was there, Friday night it
was no more.

Why? one may wonder. Well it appears - and this is the snag - that
they require users to adhere to US law. When one signs up for their
service one has to go through one of these "I agree" acceptance
things. Who reads them? For those who want to read it, it can be found
at: http://www.dyndns.org/about/legal/aup.html

DNS claims to have over a million customers. I can not believe that
they will actively go check on the behaviour of all these clients. So
someone somehow with an axe to grind convinced DNS that our Editor was
acting in violation of US law and he/she was persuasive enough to get
them to act by disabling felten.dyndsn.org. And given the fact that
some are campaigning to get the FidoNet editor to resign, that someone
is very likely a FidoNet member.

How low have we sunk that FidoNet members go snitching on other
FidoNet members? Cause that is what we called this kind of behaviour
when I was with the boy scouts. Breaking the rules is one thing, but
being a snitch is what nobody wants to be. Better be a leper than a
snitch. Apparently FidoNet is not the Boy Scouts.

Another aspect is the policy of DNS. Is it reasonable to require that
users adhere to US law? For those not residing in US territory, I
think it is not. Laws differ from country to country and what is legal
in one country may be illegal in another and vice versa. It is even
conceivable that complying with US law is a violation of the law of
one's own country.

FidoNet members not residing in the USA should seriously consider if
after this incident, they wish to continue their relationship with
DNS. After all, what happened to our FidoNews editor can happen to you
too. You may annoy a fellow FidoNet member who finds something on your
website that violates US law - you may not even be aware of it that it
does - and you are out of grace with DNS. They can cut you off without
notice and so it seems, without any possibility of an appeal.

Do you really want to do business with a company that tries to force
US law on non US citizens not residing on US territory? Do you want to
risk being cut off over what is 100% legal in your own country and
that you are not even aware of that it may violate US law?  Consider
that Dynamic Network Services is not the only game in town. Googling
for "free dns" or "gratis dns" turns up dozens of free DNS services,
many of them not US based. You may find one in your own country. That
is always better as they are not likely to ask you to comply with the
laws of another country. If you can't find one in your own country
look at Eastern Europe. There are many there that provide excellent
service. There are also FidoNet sysops that run a private DNS server.
You may want to enlist their help.


-----------------------------------------------------------------

--- Azure/NewsPrep 3.0
 * Origin: Home of the Fidonews (2:2/2.0)