Search RFCs

RFC Editor

File formats:

Status:

INFORMATIONAL

Authors:

R. Barnes
A. Cooper
O. Kolkman
D. Thaler
E. Nordmark

Stream:

IAB

Cite this RFC:TXT  | XML  |  BibTeX

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC7754

Discuss this RFC: Send questions or comments to the mailing listiab@iab.org

Other actions:Submit Errata  | Find IPR Disclosures from the IETF  | View History of RFC 7754

Abstract

The Internet is structured to be an open communications medium. Thisopenness is one of the key underpinnings of Internet innovation, butit can also allow communications that may be viewed as undesirable bycertain parties. Thus, as the Internet has grown, so have mechanismsto limit the extent and impact of abusive or objectionablecommunications. Recently, there has been an increasing emphasis on"blocking" and "filtering", the active prevention of suchcommunications. This document examines several technical approachesto Internet blocking and filtering in terms of their alignment withthe overall Internet architecture. When it is possible to do so, theapproach to blocking and filtering that is most coherent with theInternet architecture is to inform endpoints about potentiallyundesirable services, so that the communicants can avoid engaging inabusive or objectionable communications. We observe that certainfiltering and blocking approaches can cause unintended consequencesto third parties, and we discuss the limits of efficacy of variousapproaches.

For the definition ofStatus,seeRFC 2026.

For the definition ofStream, seeRFC 8729.