Somewhat OT: Information Wave bans RIAA

[Ryan T. McCarthy]

On Mon, 2002-08-19 at 13:30, pll at lanminds.com wrote:

> Yeah, at first I was pretty happy with this announcement, but now I'm 
> thinking it's just a form of censorship.  They have no right to tell 
> me what sites I visit.  If I were a customer of theirs, I'd be paying 
> for *Internet* access.  That means the whole Internet.  Not just the 
> sites that they've deemed safe for me to visit.


If you want the whole internet experience, I take it you don't filter
spam.  You are paying for access to it, after all.

Spam is actually relevant here.  One of the ways ISPs deal with it is by
blacklisting sources of it and cutting them off as much as they can. 
IWT is starting a blacklist that is just as legitimate and perfectly
targeted.  

The RIAA has announced its intention to crack any boxes that it wants to
and has even bought a bill that would legalize it for them.  That makes
the RIAA a big security threat, even bigger when you consider that they
have no oversight and a long record of not caring about little things
like rights.  Any contact with their network makes you vulnerable.  

Any security type would want their network protected from snooping of
any kind.  Especially from a company that wants to shut down anyone it
doesn't like and is protected against liability for any damage it does. 
An ISP blacklisting a company that does this, or even just announces
that it plans to, is protecting its customers and being a good citizen. 
I think the idea is going to catch on.  


	-Ryan