RFC 2057 (rfc2057) - Page 1 of 20

Source Directed Access Control on the Internet

Network Working Group                                         S. Bradner
Request for Comments: 2057                            Harvard University
Category: Informational                                    November 1996


             Source Directed Access Control on the Internet

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  This memo
   does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of
   this memo is unlimited.

1.  Abstract

   This memo was developed from a deposition that I submitted as part of
   a challenge to the Communications Decency Act of 1996, part of the
   Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996.  The Telecommunications Reform
   Act is a U.S. federal law substantially changing the regulatory
   structure in the United States in the telecommunications arena.  The
   Communications Decency Act (CDA) part of this law has as its aim the
   desire to protect minors from some of the material carried over
   telecommunications networks.  In particular the law requires that the
   sender of potentially offensive material take "effective action" to
   ensure that it is not presented to minors.  A number of people have
   requested that I publish the deposition as an informational RFC since
   some of the information in it may be useful where descriptions of the
   way the Internet and its applications work could help clear up
   confusion in the technical feasibility of proposed content control
   regulations.

2.  Control and oversight over the Internet

   No organization or entity operates or controls the Internet.  The
   Internet consists of tens of thousands of local networks linking
   millions of computers, owned by governments, public institutions,
   non-profit organizations, and private companies around the world.
   These local networks are linked together by thousands of Internet
   service providers which interconnect at dozens of points throughout
   the world.  None of these entities, however, controls the Internet;
   each entity only controls its own computers and computer networks,
   and the links allowed into those computers and computer networks.

   Although no organizations control the Internet, a limited number of
   organizations are responsible for the development of communications
   and operational standards and protocols used on the Internet.  These
   standards and protocols are what allow the millions of different (and
   sometimes incompatible) computers worldwide to communicate with each



Bradner                      Informational