(Apparently I am more movd by the topic of saving porn than I ever imagined... ;) ) On Tue, Mar 22, 2005 at 09:39:39AM -0800, Kevin Oberman said something to the effect of:
..snip snip..
The law does not require that pr0n be blocked on customer request, only that access to a list of sites (addresses?) on a published list be blocked. A very different beast and a task that is not too onerous. No more so than SPAM RBLs and bogon address RBLs if handled properly.
In my opinion... Actually, it still is pretty onerous, just not as bad as what was suggested in the former interpretation. Having come from the ISP pool myself, I wouldn't want to have to manage this list. Unlike bogons and RBLs, this sort of thing isn't deployed globally, and would have to be managed inconsistently across interfaces of those who request it. Who will handle the requests? Who will deploy the changes? Should large ISPs' core networking teams be handling requests directly from customers? Will the same teams managing the requests be called in during major infrastructure changes that might impact the deployment of such a solution? What liability will the ISP have if the block list is mistakenly removed from a requester's inteface? All very basic (and far from being a completel list) that suggest lost man hours to deploy and maintain. Perhaps if the government is interested in taking such a matter into its own hands, an agency should be tasked with managing firewall services for these customers, at its own (read: taxpayer :( ) cost. If governing bodies are even going to *try* to legislate morality in this realm, they are going to have to fund at least part of it, I would think... --ra
Any chance that it will block access to pr0n? No. But, within the limited parameters of the law passed, it might be workable. This is not a claim that it is a reasonable law or that it will really serve to any end-user's benefit, only that it's not a huge issue for most ISPs.
Of course, if it is upheld and lots of states jump on the bandwagon with similar legislation, the scalability of the system comes into question. There is going to be much hand wringing and gnashing of teeth when parents discover that it really doesn't work and the demand goes out for something "better". They will claim that the state promised, but they won't be taking legal action against the state. :-( -- R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) E-mail: oberman@es.net Phone: +1 510 486-8634
-- K. rachael treu, CISSP rara@navigo.com ..quis custodiet ipsos custodes?.. (this email has been brought to you by the letters 'v' and 'i'.)