The Guru College

ISPs warning and disconnecting users

Apparently, the Obama administration is:

reviewing an Australian program that will allow Internet service providers to alert customers if their computers are taken over by hackers and could limit online access if people don’t fix the problem.

As much as I think it’s probably a service that has the customer in mind, I’m not sure it’s a good idea. Once the power to let the government mandate disconnection from the internet for a single, arbitrary reason, however legitimate, I fear what happens when Hollywood pays enough politicians enough cash for them to say “yeah, we’ll disconnect anyone using BitTorrent, and we’ll file suit against them for Hollywood.” Think it won’t happen? A Georgia university is now calling the police on it’s students every time they catch one using P2P – legal content or not. Hollywood has asked in the past for the ability to remotely destroy the computers of alleged file sharers.

I’d much rather see an Internet run by Curious Yellow than by any government.

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