![]() There can be major privacy and security benefits to running your own server. Users have a diverse set of needs, and many of us regularly make use of servers that we run on home networks. This strategy of making incredibly broad, vague, and one-sided contracts is deeply problematic and unfair towards users, and it's disheartening to see Google follow this well-trodden path.īeyond the vagueness of what makes a “server,” the next natural question is why this prohibition against servers should exist in the first place. No ISP will come forward with a tighter definition of “server” because they want to give themselves leeway to ban users and technologies that they deem to be troublemakers. Should all these budding and varied forms of peer-to-peer distribution be prohibited by Comcast or Google Fiber? Or should these ISPs get to selectively enforce their Terms of Service only against services that they don't like because they involve some aspect of running a "server"? And these services aren't limited to BitTorrent, as the peer-to-peer approach has garnered attention as a distribution mechanism for traditional media as well, and is part of the architecture of many mainstream services like Skype and Spotify. When you run peer-to-peer services like BitTorrent, your computer is acting both as a client and a server. The notions of servers and clients can be very useful when illustrating how many basic web services work, but the distinction quickly gets blurry in practice. The first problem with prohibiting servers is that there is no good definition of a server. This norm is unreasonable – it is a power grab by ISPs that damages user freedom and chills innovation of different types of Internet-based technologies that don't follow the traditional centralized model. ![]() your account for the purpose of operating a server of any type. You may not operate, or allow others to operate, servers of any type or any other device, equipment, and/or software providing server like functionality in connection with, unless expressly authorized by Cox.ĪT&T's Acceptable Use Policy considers it a "network security violation" to: use the Service to host any type of server. Examples of prohibited equipment and servers include, but are not limited to, email, web hosting, file sharing, and proxy services and servers. Use or run dedicated, stand alone equipment or servers from the Premises that provide network content or any other services to anyone outside of your Premises local area network (‘Premises LAN’), also commonly referred to as public services or servers. Unless you have a written agreement with Google Fiber permitting you do so, you should not host any type of server using your Google Fiber connection, use your Google Fiber account to provide a large number of people with Internet access, or use your Google Fiber account to provide commercial services to third parties (including, but not limited to, selling Internet access to third parties).įrom Comcast XFINITY's Acceptable Use Policy: Your Google Fiber account is for your use and the reasonable use of your guests. The relevant Network Management Guide snippet for Google Fiber: Having spent many years fighting to stop Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from discriminating between different types of Internet traffic, the tech giant is now perpetuating a long-standing form of that discrimination with Google Fiber, its own ISP, by adopting a terrible Terms of Service clause that bans the use of “servers.” Google's ban on servers is sadly not a departure from the norm, as similar prohibitions can be found within the Terms of Service of other large ISPs. ![]() In a Wired piece published recently, Ryan Singel assails Google's newfound hypocrisy when it comes to net neutrality. ![]() We applaud Google for making this change, but note that there are still provisions to take issue with in the policy, such as the explicit ban on users running open wireless networks, which runs counter to our Open Wireless Movement. ![]() Update (): Google Fiber has made a change to their Acceptable Use Policy that clarifies that some non-commercial uses for running servers are permitted. ![]()
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