At 6:31 AM -0400 6/13/04, Sean Donelan wrote:
Network level controls aren't as effective as some people hope at stopping many things. ISPs should stop porn, ISPs should stop music sharing, ISPs should stop viruses, ISPs should stop <insert here>. Yet somehow users manage to find a way around all of them.
In a perfect world, ISPs shouldn't have to worry about content. There is no way to "know" whether the user wants a particular message and methods at guessing are always imperfect. Despite this, a lot of users would like their ISP to try to do their best to filter spam and viruses out of their mail stream, etc. It really should be an local issue but users ask, so the service appears. However, distinguish content from access. Typical users, particularly in broadband residential connections, have no desire to have anyone remotely access their machine. The same is true with most small business customers. Upon arrival of their first Internet connection, the systems do not magically recognize that end-to-end now could be any endpoint in the Internet and install appropriate filters. Why doesn't it make sense to change the default model so that such are in place under the user demonstrates some understanding of the situation by asking them to be removed? To add one more analogy to the mix, we blindly install on-ramps to the freeway to anyone who asks and certainly a few folks know what is in store once connected. However, the vast majority of ramps are connected to suburban driveways, skate board parks, and middle school playgrounds. It's amazing that we all act surprised when innocents get run over... /John