Re: [tcpm] On TCP option codepoints

[Joe Touch <[e-mail]>]

FWIW, the IANA page already indicates some of these as known 
unauthorized uses;

http://www.iana.org/assignments/tcp-parameters/tcp-parameters.xhtml

AFAICT, IANA doesn't point to details on those unauthorized uses, to 
avoid implicitly endorsing them.

Joe

On 10/8/2013 8:14 AM, Wesley Eddy wrote:
> On 10/8/2013 8:49 AM, Scharf, Michael (Michael) wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I've performed today a small and very nonscientific experiment:
>>
>> For all TCP option codepoints N marked as "Reserved" on
>> http://www.iana.org/assignments/tcp-parameters/tcp-parameters.xhtml,
>> I entered the term "tcp option N" in a major Internet search engine
>> and applied a special, human ranking by post-processing the first 5
>> results for the exact match, if available. To ensure that only the
>> data analysis tool is proprietary and biased, but not in the data
>> source, I also verified the key result in a second major search
>> engine, and I used hex values for N as well ;)
>
>
> Nice idea; thanks for doing this!
>
>
>> - For N= 38 (0x26), there are several links to official product
>> documentation
>>
>
>
> In at least this case, where there is evidence that deployed products
> have stolen the codepoint, there should be an indication on the IANA
> webpage, similar to the existing ones.  I think it's best if the
> responsible AD for TCPM handles this (sorry Martin!) though.
>
> In my personal opinion, the number of codepoint thefts is significant
> enough (and showing no signs of stopping) that instead of the generic
> statement about unauthorized use on all of them, we should specifically
> mention the vendors and products known to be abusing them.  That way,
> if at some point those products go away and become obsolete, then the
> codepoints can be reaped back for legitimate use.
>
>