Re:Germany’s Federal Network Agency wants to regulate XMPP c...
by xg15 on Sunday March 26, 2017 @11:41AM
(#13961302)
I find this bit of their reasoning particularly curious:
> The authority argues that the software would also take over functions of a server in so-called Over The Top services (OTT services) and thus not to be assessed as pure software.
If I'm not misunderstanding that, the agency asserts that a software requires regulation because it opens a port for listening.
On the risk of being alarmist, my suspicion for some time is that the next step in centralising the internet will involve stronger legal hurdles for usage of the internet that does not conform to the standard "dumb client+cloud backend" pattern. I fear this is the beginning of exactly that.
> The authority argues that the software would also take over functions of a server in so-called Over The Top services (OTT services) and thus not to be assessed as pure software.
If I'm not misunderstanding that, the agency asserts that a software requires regulation because it opens a port for listening.
On the risk of being alarmist, my suspicion for some time is that the next step in centralising the internet will involve stronger legal hurdles for usage of the internet that does not conform to the standard "dumb client+cloud backend" pattern. I fear this is the beginning of exactly that.