North American Network Operators Group
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Re: FBI tells the public to call their ISP for help

  • From: Owen DeLong
  • Date: Fri Jun 15 15:52:51 2007


On Jun 15, 2007, at 12:42 PM, Florian Weimer wrote:

* Owen DeLong:

Wouldn't it be more appropriate if the FBI told people the phone
number to Micr0$0ft?


No; most of them haven't got any existing contractual relationship
with Microsoft.

If you alluded to Microsoft's support lines: well, why should pay $90
(or what the single-call cost is) to fix a computer which is
apparently working fine?

Wrong... Most of them are subject to the problems they have because
of their contractual relationship with Micr0$0ft. Specifically, they made
the unfortunate mistake of purchasing software from Micr0$0ft, agreeing
to the Micr0$0ft End User License Agreement (contractual relationship)
and then running the Micr0$0ft software, which lead directly to their
system getting owned (or pwn3d if you prefer) due to the enormous
number of design flaws, well known exploits, and other deficiencies
in the code purchased from Micr0$0ft.

In what way, exactly, is this in any part the ISPs fault? Why should their
ISP bear the brunt of the costs for Micr0$0ft's poorly written code?

Owen