Chasing EME: Arguments for an End-Middle-End Internet

Connection establishment in the Internet has remained unchanged from its original design in the 1970s: first, the path between the communicating endpoints is assumed to always be open. It is assumed that an endpoint can reach any other endpoint by simply sending a packet addressed to the destination. This assumption is no longer borne out in practice: Network Address Translators (NATs) prevent all hosts from being addressed, firewalls prevent all packets from being delivered, and middleboxes transparently intercept packets without endpoint knowledge. Second, the Internet strives to deliver all packets addressed to a destination regardless of whether the packet is ultimately desired by the destination or not. Denial of Service (DoS) attacks are therefore commonplace, and the Internet remains vulnerable to flash worms.