Bill of Internet Access Rights – 2006

Bill of Internet Access Rights

Joe Touch
USC/ISI
June 21, 2006 
(this is an update of a set of rules originally presented at “Preventing the Internet Meltdown”, Los Angeles CA 2004; the original is also presented below) 
Internet is an association of communicating parties. This necessarily results in a number of rights which are required for consenting parties to communicate. Consenting parties should be able to communicate in an unrestricted fashion, insofar as they do not impinge on the corresponding rights of other parties. The following is a list of specific rights to that end:
  1. REAL IP: Users have the right to obtain a real IP address, routable from anywhere on the Internet.
  2. REAL DNS (& REVERSE-DNS): Users have the right to obtain a valid reverse DNS name for that IP address, and the forward lookup of that name should match the same address.
  3. RECEIVE ANY: Users have the right to receive any valid IP packet, using any valid transport protocol on any valid port (if applicable), up to the limits of your local resources and network connection.
  4. SEND ANY: Users have the right to send any valid IP packet to any valid real IP address, using any transport protocol, on any valid port (if applicable), provided it uses an inconsequential amount of resources of the network and potential receiver until mutual consent is established.
  5. ENFORCEMENT: Users have the right to know the ISP responsible for traffic from any valid IP address, sufficient to register a complaint regarding violations of any of these rules. 

Original version :

Bill of Internet Access Rights
Joe Touch
Presented at “Preventing the Internet Meltdown”, Los Angeles CA, July 27, 2004. 

The Internet is an association of communicating parties. This necessarily results in a number of rights which are required for consenting parties to communicate. Consenting parties should be able to communicate in an unrestricted fashion, insofar as they do not impinge on the corresponding rights of other parties. The following is a list of specific rights to that end: 

  • REAL IP: The right to a real IP address, routable from anywhere on the Internet. This may include the right to be able to obtain a static address, a subnet, and/or to advertise these addresses, etc. for a reasonable fee.
  • REAL DNS: The right to a valid forward and reverse DNS name for that IP address.
  • FREE SPEECH: The right to send or receive any valid IP packet, using any valid transport protocol on any valid port (if applicable), up to the limits of your local resources and network connection, provided it uses an inconsequential amount of resources of the potential receiver until mutual consent is established.
  • SILENCE: The right to have others obey Right III when sending traffic to you.
  • CLEAR CHANNEL: The right to know when traffic to you is deliberately spoofed, e.g., by your ISP for web cache ‘redirection’, or when your traffic to others is spoofed, e.g., via a NAT.