Re: What's going on?

[Michael Dillon <michael () memra com>]

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: michael () memra com


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