Are ISP's responsible for worms and viruses

Michael.Dillon at btradianz.com Michael.Dillon at btradianz.com
Thu Oct 20 14:46:51 UTC 2005


> RSA Europe 2005 ISPs must be made liable for viruses and other bad
> network traffic, Bruce Schneier, security guru and founder and CTO of
> Counterpane Internet Security, told The Register yesterday.

Are local town councils responsible for crack dealers
and crack users when that activity takes place within
the bounds of the town?

In some countries, the answer is yes.
http://www.brent.gov.uk/www.nsf/0/19fbe6f14c0f0a8f80256ee600411b1c?OpenDocument

To summarize: Brent is one of the boroughs that forms
the English city formerly known as Greater London. Like
most town councils in the UK, they own housing developments
that provide homes for those unable to afford their own
place to live, i.e. welfare housing. Even though there was
not enough evidence to convict the powerful drug dealers,
the council was able to leverage the Anti-Social Behviour
Act to eject the residents of a particular house/property.
These ASBOs (AntiSocial Behaviour Orders) are also used
in the UK to deal with noisy neighbours, unruly people on
buses, football hooligans, people with habits of getting
drunk and disorderly, abandoned cars, etc.

Note that "The Register" is a UK publication.

Also note that the substance of the above-quoted article is
that various groups COOPERATED and WORKED TOGETHER to solve 
the problem. This included the police, the owners of the
property, the users of neighbouring properties. I hope you
see the parallels here.

Mind you, it would help if some of the anti-abuse groups
would band together under some umbrella organization that
ISPs could join. Botnet researchers, SPAM fighters, etc.
That way there could be some sort of good housekeeping
seal of approval that ISPs can use to competitive advantage
in the marketplace. At that point, money starts to talk
and there is an economic incentive to clean up your act
and get that "seal".

--Michael Dillon
 



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