Glen Kent wrote:
Do ISPs (PTA, AboveNet, etc) that "unintentionally" hijack someone else IP address space, ever get penalized in *any* form?
The net only functions as a single entity because sp's intentionally DONT hijack space and the mutual trust in other sp's rational behavior. Since the sp behavior is financialy driven by user's desires, this is actually fairly easy to predict. The entire stability of the net is due to Nash Equilibrium/MAD Principle. This is an ecosystem which functions because it is in everybodies best _practical_ interest to keep it so. Punitive actions will most likely be viewed as impractical, dampened and staunched as quickly as practically possible +- human tendencies such as ego and similar. Actions that disturb equilibrium must be punitive in and of themselves, either by direct consequence or by predictable side effect and chain reaction. So yes, the penalties must already exist in sufficient form, otherwise this mailing list wouldnt. The jitter in the system is caused by the imperfections in the system, that would be the human element. The system functions because of the imperfections, not in spite of them. I cant see how any imposition of authority could ever change the dynamic, seeing as how it requires the buy in of all, in other words it would function simply as an inefficient version of what already exists. I think its worth consideration that possibly what we have now is the best it will ever be.