Internet Protocol Forum

by Sean Convery, Identity Engines

Network Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA, pronounced “triple-A”) is a technology that has been in use since before the days of the Internet as we know it today. Authentication asks the question, “Who or what are you?” Authorization asks, “What are you allowed to do?” And finally, accounting wants to know, “What did you do?” These fundamental security building blocks are being used in expanded ways today. This article, the first in a two-part series, focuses on the overall concepts of AAA, defines the elements involved in AAA communications, and discusses high-level approaches to achieving specific AAA goals. Part two of the article, to be published in a future issue of IPJ, will discuss the protocols involved, specific AAA applications, and considerations for the future of AAA. more …

by Steve Gibbard, Packet Clearing House

The past several years have seen significant efforts to keep local Internet communications local in places far from the well-connected core of the Internet. Although considerable work remains to be done, Internet traffic now stays local in many places where it once would have traveled to other continents, lowering costs while improving performance and reliability. Data sent directly between users in those areas no longer leaves the region. Applications and services have become more localized as well, not only lowering costs but keeping those services available at times when the region’s connectivity to the outside world has been disrupted. I discussed the need for localization in a previous paper, “Internet Mini-Cores: Local connectivity in the Internet’s spur regions.” [1] What follows here is a more specific look at a particular application, the Domain Name System (DNS).more …

by Marshall T. Rose, Dover Beach Consulting, Inc. and Carl Malamud, Public Resource, Inc.

What is the work product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)? Some cynical observers might suggest “many fine lunches or dinners,” but we argue that those niceties are merely the means to an end. The goal of the IETF is to provide open standards for the Internet community, and those standards are memorialized as written documents called Request For Comments (RFCs). more …

ICANN Board Rejects .xxx Domain Application more …

ISOC Fellowship to the IETF more …

BGP: The Movie more …

Internet Governance Articles and References more …