[EAS] The Internet Is Broken

[Peter J. Kindlmann]

Another cheerful mailing, I regret to say. But increasingly our
relationship with the Internet itself is becoming like Microsoft
Windows writ large, with new patches almost every week. It may help
employment figures, but the calls for redesign are getting more
attention. These articles offer good perspective on the current
situation. --PJK

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(CIT INFOBITS -- December 2005)

"The Internet Is Broken"
By David Talbot
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW, December 2005/January 2006

"Simply put, the Internet has no inherent security architecture --
nothing to stop viruses or spam or anything else. Protections like
firewalls and antispam software are add-ons, security patches in a
digital arms race."

"Over the years, as Internet applications proliferated -- wireless
devices, peer-to-peer file-sharing, telephony -- companies and network
engineers came up with ingenious and expedient patches, plugs, and
workarounds. The result is that the originally simple communications
technology has become a complex and convoluted affair. For all of the
Internet's wonders, it is also difficult to manage and more fragile
with each passing day."

Online version of the article is in 3 parts:
Part 1: http://www.technologyreview.com/infotech/wtr_16051,258,p1.html
Part 2: http://www.technologyreview.com/InfoTech/wtr_16055,258,p1.html
Part 3: http://www.technologyreview.com/InfoTech/wtr_16056,258,p1.html