[time-nuts] D-Links NTP server vandalism

[Neon John]

On Sat, 8 Apr 2006 13:53:40 -0700, "Tom Van Baak" <tvb at leapsecond.com>
wrote:

>PHK,
>
>So sorry to hear about your legal adventure.
>
>Have a close look at "NTP" from the 1930's -- at just
>5 cents a day [about $0.70 in today's dollar]:
>
>http://www.leapsecond.com/history/usno.htm

And I bet there was the equivalent problem of open WiFi access points
- the guy across the street from a subscriber using a telescope to set
his clock(s) from the western union one :-)

>
>Perhaps the problem with NTP (and email, and the
>web, etc.) is that the servers do all the work & pay all
>the bills and the clients ride for free. One can imagine
>a world where time to the second on the net is free,
>but the client pays more for ever increasing levels of
>delivered precision from the server.

There'd first have to be an agreement that there IS a problem.  From
my perspective both as a heavy net user and a former service provider,
I think the net and its financing model is working just fine.

I can just imagine the re-balkanizing of the net that charging for
services would cause.  Anyone else remember the bad old days of
Tymenet and Telenet?  Where mainly only large organizations had access
- and then the teletype was guarded like the company secrets?  Where
the odd small businessman (that would be me back then) counted
characters and seconds to avoid extra charges.  Where no one would
dare do anything interesting or outside strict job requirements
because of the costs involved?

Naw, I'll take the free and open net that we have now.  The financing
model is working well.  

John
---
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.johngsbbq.com
Cleveland, Occupied TN
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.-Ralph Waldo Emerson