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Are ISPs Liable for Zombies?
Mock trial attempts to answer the question
by Karl Bode
Wednesday Jun 08 2005 14:13 EDT
The question of whether or not ISPs should be held liable for spam, worms, piracy, and objectionable content has been brought up almost monthly. Now Infoworld (via Techdirt) reports on a mock trial where ISPs were "prosecuted" for failing to do enough to stop zombies (infected PC's used in DDoS attacks). Of the hundreds of IT professionals who acted as Jurors, most found ISPs should not be held liable.

tags: legal · security

Most recommended from 59 comments



Steve
I know your IP address
Consultant
join:2001-03-10
Foothill Ranch, CA
kudos:5

Steve

Consultant

2005-Jun-8 2:04 pm

"It's not my fault - blame my ISP"

Anything that shifts the responsibility away from the end user, who is more in control of his own behavior than the ISP is, will reduce even more the incentive for that user to clean up his act.

And making the ISP liable will have a completely perverse cost-shifting effect: users who know what they are doing and take steps to run a tight ship will end up paying extra for the ISP to go around cleaning up machines of the morons.

This seems like a really bad idea.

Steve
--
Stephen J. Friedl • Unix Wizard • Microsoft Security MVP • Tustin, California USA • my web site
actions · 2005-Jun-8 2:04 pm ·

How about ..