Hey Everyone,
I have been having a strange intermittent problem with my internet connection. Specifically, every once in a while Firestarter (iptables) would block incoming connections from "deploy.akamaitechnologies.com" and I would be unable to load certain websites in my browser, such as "bbc.co.uk", "newegg.com", and others. These incoming connections from "deploy.akamaitechnologies.com" would occur sporadically and it quickly became annoying to loose the ability to browse the web proper. In my efforts to remedy the problem, I came across the option "Block traffic from reserved addresses on public interfaces" in Firestarter, which once disabled (unchecked) solved the problem. Strangely, I can re-enable this feature at some other time in the day, or just wait it out, and do not receive any incoming connections from "deploy.akamaitechnologies.com" and all websites load just fine. From what I have read, "akamai" is a company that provides bandwidth for various websites.
More strangely, Firestarter documentation does not provide any explanation for "Block traffic from reserved addresses on public interfaces" and my web search turned out nothing, except for a Ubuntu bug report (#35738) that describes this very problem. This bug report is dated 2009-04-07 and zero comments have been made on it. Personally, I have had this option enabled for some time now and did not experience problems until just recently. As I am writing this, "Block traffic from reserved addresses on public interfaces" is enabled and all websites, including the previously mentioned "bbc.co.uk" and "newegg.com" load perfectly, but I am also not receiving any incoming connections from "deploy.akamaitechnologies.com". I am confused and a bit bewildered by this situation as these "port scans" by Akamai seem to block access to websites that I want to view, and then they mysteriously stop.
-Can anyone explain what "Block traffic from reserved addresses on public interfaces" does exactly?
-Why do connections from "deploy.akamaitechnologies.com" prevent the viewing of certain websites when they are blocked by Firestarter (iptables)?
-Why do I need connections to "deploy.akamaitechnologies.com" in the first place?
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