Re: Court Jurisdiction and the Internet

In article <33CA3F8D.51C5B819@netcom.com>,
"Michael R. Sees" <sees@netcom.com> wrote:
> Where may I find technical information related to the
> possibility of limiting access to a web site by geography?

Technically it's quite simple. You just configure the server to
deny access if the hostname or IP address of the client occurs
in a list of known unwanted states/countries. The problem is
compiling that list.

For example, you'll see that my hostname is a .com address. The
server htmlhelp.com is in the USA, but I'm actually in the Netherlands.
Your server would not be able to determine this from the hostname
or IP address, and if you hardcoded "htmlhelp.com == Netherlands"
you'd lock out the htmlhelp.com users from other countries.

MIT has the same problem with its PGP distribution site. This
program may not be exported outside the USA, so their site attempts
to determine if you are in the USA. If it can't clear you, you are
asked to mail the admins so they can manually check you and give
you access to the download location. You may want to contact Jeffrey
Schiller <jis@mit.edu> to ask him if the source for the program they
use is available.

-- 
E-mail: galactus@htmlhelp.com .................... PGP Key: 512/63B0E665
Maintainer of WDG's HTML reference: <http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/>

Received on Monday, 14 July 1997 14:56:39 UTC