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Non-Tech : Starnet (SNMM)Online gaming, sexsites, lottery, Sportsbook -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sanjay sanghani who wrote (2810)	4/22/1999 2:38:00 PM
From: David A. Lethe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 8858

Re: content ease-of-filtering, problems, practicality, and jargon explained ... Blocking access to specific gambling sites is extremely easy for your ISPs. This is a SIMPLIFIED version of what would be involved: 0. (background) Every computer that you can reach via the internet has a domain name, IP name, and IP address. In the case of www.starnet.com, the domain name is starnet.com, the IP address is 209.197.97.252, and the IP name is www.starnet.com. YOu can reach any site by its IP name or IP number. (Try entering 209.197.97.252 in the address). A device called a domain name server(DNS) is a computer running software that cross-references numbers to names, so you can point your browser to a name, rather than a more cryptic number. The internic is a government agency (kindof) that maintains the master cross-reference list. It is updated daily from companies & ISPs that are modifiying the cross-reference information for their domain. All ISPs maintain their own DNS servers which automatically poll the main ones at a predetermined interval. Routers are boxes that create a channel to a particular IP number. This is called a gateway. (Information about your PC's gateway & default DNS server can be seen by entering "netstat") 1. Here is the trick. All an ISP has to do is turn off the route to a particular IP number. If, for example, www.bobscasino.com had IP of 233.1.2.3, then you just program your router to block access to that IP. It takes seconds to do. Also a very easy program can be written to automatically do this daily. Now comes the problems and the FUD ... -> ISPs would have to maintain a list of naughty IP's, and probably change it daily. -> The government would have to do the same and supply the master, which could be easily done through internic and setting up US-ONLY master DNS boxes. Cost would be $250K or so. -> The courts have shown that if an ISP blocks some contents, they can be held liable for lawsuits of they dont do a really good job of it. IF they dont block anything, then they are protected. This is the kind of deal the phone companies have. They don't block conversations, so they can't be sued if a whacked out bomber used the phone to plan his or her next explosion. AOL of course does some filtering, and we have certainly seen enough press about content lawsuits against them. Now, let's say the bill passes despite all of the above. Here is how a US-based citizen could EASILY defeat all of this. Just use a canadian/mexican -based ISP. The courts couldn't touch them! David A. Lethe