Are we really this helpless? (Re: isprime DOS in progress)

Sat Jan 24 19:57:18 UTC 2009

>
>
> But if they were in eastern Europe or Russia, wouldn't that solution be
> considered standard business practice and thus be legal?
>

Assuming that you really believe such an outrageous statement,
I went to <http://www.themoscowtimes.com/index.htm> to search
for stories about people being arrested for the behavior that you
think is "legal". Interestingly, the first story on the front page is
about such an arrest, and you can type "arrest" into the search
box to find several other stories.

Note that the Moscow Times is an English language newspaper in
Russia that tends to be critical of the government. But at least it
is written by people who live there and who have a much better idea
of what is going on than the folklore that is reported on in the West.

Yes, this is network operational, because the Internet is a global
network, and you really do need to understand that the majority of
network operators in Eastern Europe or Russia, are not out to
get you. If you have operational issues with them you should contact
them directly and sort it out.

The criminal elements in cyberspace are also criminals in their own
country and very few network operators are actually in league with
them. Treat other network operators as innocent unless they
are proven guilty. For instance go to <http://www.cert.ru/>,
click on the Union Jack flag for English language version and
then on the Conference link for the 7th Nov 2008 to see
presentations from Finland, Estonia, Bulgaria, and Russia.
Some of the slides are even in English, or English and Russian.
And if you attend one of the RIPE meetings in Europe you
can actually meet network operators from these countries and
learn that they are pretty much like you, running a business
and sorting out problems.

-- Michael Dillon