[discuss] Transiting e-mails

Tue Jan 7 23:05:06 UTC 2014

On 08/01/2014 05:28, Michel Gauthier wrote:
> At 09:27 07/01/2014, S Moonesamy wrote:
>> Note that the user does not have any control over the path taken by a
>> packet to reach its destination.  It is possible to set restrictions,
>> such as which country a packet transits through, in a closed network. 
>> The simple response is that it is not possible to set such a
>> restriction in an open network.
>>
>> I'll skip the second question.
> 
> I am afraid you missed the point.
> 1. The first point is not here to be commented. It is a user requirement
> to be addresed.
> 2. the first point is also here to illustrate the scandal of the second
> question to be skiped.
> 
> The "user does not have any control" is only a structural bug. The
> information I want to confirm is that nobody still cares on the /1net
> list. This means it is a list where users are not represented. QED.
> Cheers!

Michel, it isn't a question of caring or not caring. The issue is
technical: the Internet is a datagram network, not a circuit-switched
network, and in a datagram network the sender has no control over the
path taken by the packet, which is determined dynamically inside the
network.

That's why people will tell you that end-to-end encryption is needed,
so that even if your datagrams pass through Langley, Virginia
they remain private.

    Brian