... If we give some people an option to opt-out, most grandmothers will probably follow Paul's example and save the few bucks every month and not use the security features. Should ISPs charge for security like the Universial Service Fund fee on your telephone bill, everyone (not just grandmothers) has to pay it. The FCC (or your national equivalent) would sets the rate every quarter, and it appears on everyone's ISP bill. You have to pay it, even if you already have other security.
i like the plan i suggested in reply to jcurran better than the above plan. however, i'm now seeing more spam from hosts in my private blackhole list, that's fed by a darkspace IDS running on ports 25 and 80, than i am from all of my "dynamic/dialup blackhole list" subscriptions combined. so, if an fcc-based universal tariff is the only way to get this done, i'm willing to pay -- even though i own the routers on both ends of my home t1. -- Paul Vixie