RFC 8117

Current Hostname Practice Considered Harmful, March 2017

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Status:
INFORMATIONAL
Authors:
C. Huitema
D. Thaler
R. Winter
Stream:
IETF
Source:
intarea (int)

Cite this RFC: TXT  |  XML  |   BibTeX

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8117

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Abstract

Giving a hostname to your computer and publishing it as you roam from one network to another is the Internet's equivalent of walking around with a name tag affixed to your lapel. This current practice can significantly compromise your privacy, and something should change in order to mitigate these privacy threats.

There are several possible remedies, such as fixing a variety of protocols or avoiding disclosing a hostname at all. This document describes some of the protocols that reveal hostnames today and sketches another possible remedy, which is to replace static hostnames by frequently changing randomized values.


For the definition of Status, see RFC 2026.

For the definition of Stream, see RFC 8729.




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