[2325] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Time zones, area codes, and other stupidity
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brian Lloyd)
Thu Feb 13 01:52:27 1992
Date: Wed, 12 Feb 92 22:47:14 PST
From: brian@lloyd.com (Brian Lloyd)
To: skh@merit.edu
Cc: jgong@us.oracle.com, pushp@CERF.NET, com-priv@psi.com,
In-Reply-To: skh@merit.edu's message of Wed, 12 Feb 92 03:05:11 EST <9202120805.AA19273@home.merit.edu>
Reply-To: brian@lloyd.com
ARRGGGHHH! No no no no no no ... (ad infinitum)
I am sure that most people have heard the arguments already. Network
connectivity does not always follow geographic lines. Network
connectivity is logical, not physical. Perhaps you can make address
assignment authority a function of the physical location of the
assigner but that is about all.
Let's use the telephone system as an analogy (since we are talking
about propagating the geographic stupidity of the telephone network).
When you place a call are you trying to reach a telephone or someone
who might be near that telephone? Therefore is makes much more sense
to assign the address to the person you wish to reach rather than
assign an address to the place where the person might be reached. If
you decouple the address from geographic location (as in a cellular
phone) now you can call the person. The concept works very well for
people who are smart enough to carry a portable cellular phone
everywhere instead of binding the phone number to a location, as in
Bob's home phone, Bob's office phone, Bob's car phone, Bob's
girfriend's phone, etc. How better to have just "Bob's phone".
Let's not eliminate that possibility in our future networks.
Brian Lloyd, WB6RQN Lloyd & Associates
Principal and Network Architect 3420 Sudbury Road
brian@lloyd.com Cameron Park, CA 95682
voice (916) 676-1147 -or- (415) 725-1392
