Text 7737, 116 rader
Skriven 2005-03-22 09:09:00 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
   Kommentar till text 7595 av Ross Cassell (1:123/456)
Ärende: FidoNews 22:12 [02/06]: General Articles
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Hello Ross,

21 Mar 2005 10:22, Ross Cassell wrote to Michiel Van Der Vlist:

 FR>>             A snake in the grass of a free DNS service

 RC> You get what you pay for.

True.....

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

 RC> Are there no DNS services over in Europe, /anywhere/??

Of course there are. I have a DNS server in my own home router. ;-)

So why do so many make use of dyndns? Well I guess it is just that they heard
from other sysops that it works well, and is free. Do install and forget.

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

 RC> Since the first hop in the DNS resolution process is on a US 
 RC> based service?

So? Does Ford motor company require that customers in Europe adhere to US law? 


 RC> I suggest you all seek out a European solution to this problem, 
 RC> in Bjorns case, perhaps a Swedish one, they have to exist or are 
 RC> they all payware services?

That was ome of the objects of my article. Make my fellow sysops aware of this
problem and keep an eye open for alternatives.

 RC> However you in your eloquently worded protest, omit the fact 
 RC> that when Bjorn signed up for this service, he had to agree to 
 RC> the AUP/TOS and that usually entails some fine print confirmed 
 RC> by a sign up/submit button on their web site, so isnt Bjorn 
 RC> somewhat at fault for not reading them?

C'mon Ross, nobody reads those acceptance statements. Most of it does not apply
anyway and for the real fine print you need the assistance of a laywer. What is
a the point of engaging in a free service if you need a EUR 150/hour lawyer to
read the fine print?

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

 RC> Bjorn can also have a web site hosted on his behalf. I have 
 RC> easternstar.info hosted for $30/yr.

And whoever hosts it, they don't ave fine print?

 FR>> Do you really want to do business with a company that tries to 
 FR>> force US law on non US citizens not residing on US territory? Do 
 FR>> you want to risk being cut off over what is 100% legal in your 
 FR>> own country and that you are not even aware of that it may 
 FR>> violate US law?

 RC> I know individual responsibility is not a requirement to be a 
 RC> European,

Eh? Where do you get that idea?

 RC> but if Bjorn had taken the time to read the AUP/TOS, wouldnt he
 RC> have been forewarned?

Not really. Wat *I* read into their statment that is that customers may not use
the service to engage in illegal activities emanating from the US. Björn is not
doing that. Apparently their interpretation differs from mine. So without a
lawyer to interprete it, reading the fine print is quit useless.

 FR>> Consider that Dynamic Network Services is not the only game in town. 
 FR>> Googling for "free dns" or "gratis dns" turns up dozens of free 
 FR>> DNS services, many of them not US based.

 RC> There you go!

Indeed there you go. Take your bussines out of the US. A non US based company
might not so lightly cut off an a complaint of a disgruntled Z1 sysop.

 FR>>  You may find one in your own country. That
 FR>> is always better as they are not likely to ask you to comply 
 FR>> with the laws of another country. If you can't find one in your 
 FR>> own country look at Eastern Europe. There are many there that 
 FR>> provide excellent service. There are also FidoNet sysops that run 
 FR>> a private DNS server. You may want to enlist their help.

 RC> and dont give Bjorn a free pass for not reading the fine print.

See above.

Have you never been caught up by the fine print?
This is where trust comes in in a bussines relationship. A good and fair
bussines partner does not strangle his customer with fine print.


Cheers, Michiel

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