INTERNET DRAFT                                                   M. Ohta
draft-ohta-isps-00.txt                     Tokyo Institute of Technology
                                                               July 2000

                         The Internet and ISPs

Status of this Memo

   This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
   all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that
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   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (May/1/2000).  All Rights
   Reserved.

Abstract

   This memo gives definitions on the Internet and ISPs (Internet
   Service Providers).

1. The Internet

   The Internet is a public IP [1, 2] network globally connected end to
   end [3] at the Internetworking layer.

2. ISPs

   A network provider is an ISP, if and only if its network, including
   access parts of the network to its subscribers, is a part of the
   Internet.

   As such, ISPs must preserve the end to end and globally connected
   principles of the Internet at the Internetworking layer.



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   A network provider of a private IP or non-IP network, which is
   connected to the Internet through an application and/or transport
   gateway is not an ISP.

   Dispit the requirement of "global connectivity", a network provider
   may use transparent firewalls to the Internet with no translation to
   filter out a limited number of problematic well known ports of TCP
   and/or UDP and can still be an ISP.  However, if filtering out is a
   default and only a limited number of protocols are allowed to pass
   the firewalls (which means snooping of transport/application layer
   protocols), it can not be regarded as full connectivity to the
   Internet and the provider is not an ISP.

3. Security Considerations

   While some people may think that filtering by application/transport
   gateways offer some sort of security, they should recognize that
   macro virus in e-mails can pass and are passing through all such
   gateways.

4. References

   [1] J. Postel, "Internet Protocol", RFC791, September 1981.

   [2] S. Deering, R. Hinden, "Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6)
   Specification", RFC2460, December 1998.

   [3] B. Carpenter, "Architectural Principles of the Internet",
   RFC1958, June 1996.

5. Author's Address

   Masataka Ohta
   Computer Center, Tokyo Institute of Technology
   2-12-1, O-okayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, JAPAN

   Phone: +81-3-5734-3299
   Fax: +81-3-5734-3415
   EMail: mohta@necom830.hpcl.titech.ac.jp












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6. Full Copyright Statement

   "Copyright (C) The Internet Society (July/1/2000).  All Rights
   Reserved.

   This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
   others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
   or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
   and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
   kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
   included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
   document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
   the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
   Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
   developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
   copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
   followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
   English.

   The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
   revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.

   This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
   TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
   BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
   HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
   MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.























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