Harald, Yes, you did reply last month, with allusions to standing on the quicksand. I use The Internet to mean the public network and to exclude (enterprise) networks behind NAT/PAT ie most enterprise networks. I appreciate you do not but still don't know if my usage is widespread or not ie will the use of (capitalised) Internet help or confuse. (My initial training in this came from an IBM course). I like the phrase Internet Protocol Suite - not widely used - and so refer to networks based on the IPS to encompass the wider suite of networks. But then this allows for isolated networks where you specifically say interconnected. Or, staying with your terminology, you could add to the definition 'including those connected via protocol gateways' which covers NAT, PAT and anything else we may come up with (to keep out those with malicious intent). (Of the other posts, I don't think spherical geometry will help clarify this while the reference to equivalence classes I find mistaken, since there are discussions on not letting packets through as part of spam control:-) Tom Petch -----Original Message----- From: Harald Tveit Alvestrand <harald@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: Tom Petch <nwnetworks@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; ietf@xxxxxxxx <ietf@xxxxxxxx> Date: 10 March 2004 03:49 Subject: Re: Continuing the story - another stab at an IETF missionstatement >--On 18. februar 2004 18:06 +0000 Tom Petch <nwnetworks@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> >wrote: > >> I find your definition of the Internet delightfully ambiguous. I was >> taught that the Internet (as opposed to an internet or the internet) was >> the public network accessible through public IPv4 addresses (this predates >> IPv6) ie the Internet ceased at a firewall or other such IP level gateway. >> >> Reading your definition, I cannot tell where you stand; are firewalls and >> networks behind them included in IETF mission or not? > >Tom, >reviewing, I cannot tell whether I answered this one or not.... >I was definitely intending to include them, since IMHO they are connected >to the internet (see "both core and edge networks", "host to host"). If you >can suggest words to make this clearer, I'd appreciate it! > > Harald