-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 30/08/12 15:38, Nick Daly wrote: > This is also what makes it really difficult for a FBX to receive > email. :\ > > I think some folks were talking about buying records, of some sort, > a while ago. Don't recall what came of it, though. Anybody with > a better memory want to pipe up?
I believe this is the single biggest obstacle the FreedomBox has to overcome, and I'm surprised it hasn't received more attention. To put it bluntly, an unskilled user can't run a server on a typical home broadband connection. There are several reasons: * Most home broadband connections have dynamic IP addresses * Forwarding a port through a home router requires skills that many people don't have; the process can't be automated or reduced to simple instructions because home routers have non-standard password-protected web interfaces * UPnP and NAT-PMP are unavailable, disabled or broken on many home routers * Even if you get past the home router, some ISPs have a second layer of NAT, or a firewall that blocks incoming connections Dynamic DNS solves the first problem, but the other three aren't so easy. Based on data collected from millions of LimeWire peers, only 25% of home computers can receive incoming TCP connections even if they use UPnP and NAT-PMP. As far as I can see, the only solution is to use a service like PageKite, so any box that's unable to receive incoming TCP connections can instead make an outgoing connection to a reverse proxy that receives incoming connections on its behalf. Tor hidden services are fine for box-to-box connections, but they don't allow people to run web, email and chat servers that their non-box-owning friends can connect to, which I thought was the whole point of the project. If that analysis is correct, we should look at the reverse proxy issue in more depth. Questions to ask include: * Are the protocols open standards? * Are the implementations free software? * Are there any limitations on what services can be run (email, XMPP)? * How much trust must the user place in the provider (MITM, logging)? * Are there any providers other than PageKite? * Can we expect other providers to emerge? * Will users be able to switch providers? * Should the service be bundled with the box? Cheers, Michael -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.10 (GNU/Linux) iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJQP5c7AAoJEBEET9GfxSfMIYoH/0aLQO7oHwESyGNn0n0Qlf9f y/5iyKHA1X7Ln6iXgHQv/G7zDGgO9ZOUGsIc2dKBLqyejsQPu9OdC0hUaUy6K0SJ lJBJchXETAaz97b1mtOWPYgjvOwwDOlsMZis8AdivpphKY6RvHuwvSnOXojxDYnp kysoSReuCIa/HGUFM1JyzBzg8uphpLI26LHEiBY6pJaJxrNavzkXkeNXeQEReBDl x1PH6lGXGOk4WfJERqC5J2gfYYDipesbxuYAn6h12CoylgoxXK+mkBzCisKhof4I K3C0fI620nuJtFhPP0h4hqTMfpO5FMJjWZsOM3uR7yfHJWEgV/Z59DN9+xxa/lE= =3PpL -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ Freedombox-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/freedombox-discuss
