"Default" Internet Service (was: Re: Points on your Internet

Sun Jun 13 22:08:47 UTC 2004

>: now, though, there's an opportunity to do a marketing U-turn on this.  cable
>: and dsl providers in the USA can point to the national cybersecurity 
>plan and
>: say that to comply with it they have to put infected computers in cyberjail,
>: with a fee of $N to get these machines audited, and if found clean, put back
>: on the net, noting that N doubles every time this process is invoked, and
>: that a deposit of $(0.5*N) is required as prepayment for the next incident,
>: refundable after one year if there are no further incidents.  then offer to
>: remotely manage their host ("give me your root passwords, trust me!") for an
>: annual fee of $(0.75*N).  if the initial value of N were $500, you might be
>: able to get the people who need this service to pay for it.  it's worth a
>try?
>: --
>: Paul Vixie
>:
>
>If I read Paul's post correctly, then I would have to agree that the costs of
>cleaning up the problem customers should be placed on the customer (miscreant)
>as opposed to the rest of us.  This would be far more preferable than putting
>in place controls by the respective ISP that would limit my own use of my
>connection, on which I have spent considerable time, money and education to
>make sure it is secure and beyond that, compliant with the ISP Acceptable Use
>policies.

Yes, but then you have another problem. I get a virus - whoops, attached a 
laptop without thinking. I clean it up myself, cause I'm feeling so 
retarded for getting the virus that I damn well ain't sharing that with 
anyone. In the meantime, the ISP noticed the virus and put a block on.

Do I have to pay them $500 to get it removed? Definitely cheaper to cancel 
service and go with someone else at that point.

Rob Nelson
ronelson at vt.edu