NOOOOOOOO

[Mark Richards]

Seth Gordon wrote:
> 
> I used to have residential DSL service from Speakeasy, with my domain's
> mail and Web services being hosted out of a machine in my basement.
> Now, I have residential DSL service from Verizon and a virtual server at
> OpenHosting.  As long as Verizon doesn't block outgoing ssh connections,
> I can do whatever I want on the "real Internet" through OpenHosting; I
> have root on the virtual server, it's running Postfix, it's running
> Apache, etc., etc.  OpenHosting does a better job keeping their servers
> up and running and backed up than I was doing with my own, so I don't
> miss having physical access to my server.
> 
> Best of all (and this is why I made the switch from Speakeasy to Verizon
> in the first place), the sum of my Verizon DSL and OpenHosting bills is
> less than what I was paying Speakeasy.
> 
> (Would it be practical for BLU to lease a box at some colocated site,
> set up Xen/UML/VServer/whatever on it, and then sublease virtual machine
> instances to BLU members?)

This might work for a while.  But I wonder if the same providers who 
also run the large pipes might eventually cave in and do the same thing 
at that level.

Circumventing the ISP's boneheaded restrictions is possible for the 
technician/engineer level consumer, but the rest of the very general 
public remains left out.  So a workaround that provides needed access 
for some, I think, ought to be made available to all.

When you do that, you automatically invite regulation.  I can hear 
Verizon/Comcast/BestBuy/AOL/FCC/FTC/FBI now: "We must clamp down on 
these digital miscreants who are fouling up our internet!".

/m


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