|
North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: What's going on?
On Thu, 17 Apr 1997, Sanjay Dani wrote: > >I certainly don't condone any attacks on AGIS but I think this should be a > >lesson that Internet users expect a certain standard of behavior from > >network providers. While there may be no legal imperative to force network > >providers to behave in a certain way, the will of the people has a way > >of making itself felt and we ignore it at our peril. > > (Internet users != hackers) > > I understand the will of the people to boycot a certain > company or a product, but breaking into others' property? > Sophistry like above deserves some of the blame for the > break-ins. Sorry but you're wrong. Let me point out that "Internet users" does not mean "hackers" (now where have I heard that before? :-). I am referring to the countless millions of Internet users who get unsolicited commercial email in their mailboxes and are frustrated because they don't know who to complain to about it other than their elected representatives. > Where does one draw the line? Good question but there is no easy answer. However I suspect that people who understand the Internet intimately will need to be involved in drawing the line to make sure it makes sense. > This issues has relevance to nanog--the veiled encouragement > to break-ins I see here does result into network operational > problems, more than most of the spams do. You misunderstand my point. I do NOT encourage breakins, mailbombing, SYN-flooding or any other kind of attacks as a solution to the SPAM problem. It's not a technical problem so technical solutions won't cut it. But it *IS* something that every network provider should think about carefully because the network does not operate in a vacuum. If a provider encourages spammers or harbors spammers who attack other providers' systems then the environment, i.e. the general Internet user population, *WILL* attack them. Facing up to reality is not the same as condoning or encouraging that action. And part of facing up to reality is realizing that the cost of defending your network against the people may be higher than any benefit gained from taking a hands-off attitude towards your customer activities. Michael Dillon - Internet & ISP Consulting Memra Software Inc. - Fax: +1-250-546-3049 http://www.memra.com - E-mail: [email protected] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|