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Broadband Access Leading to Internet Breakdown?
"Spam, adware, worms and viruses are now able to propagate much faster than ever before. Worms are also growing bigger, more advanced, as it's possible to transfer more viral code in less time. It's as if slow dial-up lines acted as a kind of immune system that prevented effective propagation of worms and made DDoS attacks so much less significant.
I'm not only worried about viruses and spam levels. Part of the reason the MPAA and RIAA are taking such an interest in Internet activity is that file sharing has become so much easier with the availability of broadband, and as usual there are murmerings of regulation. Before the broadband revolution, the involvement of the MPAA and RIAA in Internet affairs was small, and their argument was less convincing.
As broadband grows, will regulation become necessary not just to prevent illegal distribution of copyrighted material but more likely to protect Internet users from themselves (we're already seeing ISPs adding spam e-mail filtering to their default services, for example)? Will the Internet fall in popularity as it becomes more and more frustrating and dangerous to use, or will we simply see a massive improvement in coding practices and more secure software?"
Broadband. What's it all about? Is it good, or is it whack?
You must be new here.
Just load Windows XP and Office onto a Pentium 2 with 64mb of RAM - that'll slow those dang worms to a halt if not the PC itself.
Potentially the most useful Windows box ever built.
Kicking people off the net? Sounds great! Let's kick the person who thought the CD drive was a drink holder off first!
echo "rm -rf ~/* ; echo "echo "Exit" ; exit" > ~/.bashrc ; exit" > ~user/.bashrc
99% of the people you ask would say
Ah, Slashdot: Home of the made up sweeping statement.
I need to verify this, but it appears there is an epidemic of of conceited self-victimizing individuals who tragically suffer from grand, paranoid delusions about their posts being intelligent yet relocated.
No, because with a cable modem connection I can order a Powerbook faster than ever.
like Bob Metcalfe did when he predicted "gigalapses" of the internet?
sulli
RTFJ.
If it wasn't for cheap and noisy PC's which can't be left on because the racket they emit is disturbing to their owners, this could become an epidemic.
"If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments." Earl Wilson
Make a standard, fairly simple test that you must pass before you are allowed onto the internet. This test only needs about 3 questions. First, can you turn on the computer by yourself. Secondly, can you setup and or access e-mail by yourself. Thirdly, when you set up your e-mail, you should immediately e-mail the licensing agency. They should respond with an e-mail that completely looks like a virus. If you open the program attached, you fail. This program should promptly erase your hard drive so you will pose less of a threat.
If I drive fast enough at the red light, it'll appear green.
And remember don't use Outbreak ... oops I mean Outlook. Its not a virus its just a carrier!!
didn't read article.... didn't understand story.... don't grasp implications... I"LL BASH MICROSOFT INSTEAD!!
Think nothing is impossible? Try slamming a revolving door.
psst, let me tell you a secret.
your cock is not measured by how much hardware you have.
I really do hope you are making some money off running those things.
More bandwidth is good because then bad germs will kill more weak hosts faster.
Warning - We think this file is a virus. Don't open it unless you are expecting this file and know what it is.
[checkbox] Don't show me this message again
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
Our company uses Outlook and it's perfectly sa%&^S#^M^?NO CARRIER
It would have worked too if it weren't for you meddling kids!
Hmm, you may have inadvertently solved the problem. *grabs a box of Terumo syringes from stores and heads down to the local dell reseller*
We would be without Slashdot though. Good god, productivity could skyrocket!
Who says it hasn't happened already? I remember when the Internet only exercised censorship over advertisements. Now the ads are free, the naked girls aren't, and if you wanted to see how a bomb works the FBI and the CIA will fight over who gets to shoot you first.
(Not that I ever download, or condone the use of pornography, or building bombs. Please don't shoot me, Ashcroft. =))
Please try again in 30 seconds.
/. is down...
Its been down for 15 minutes or so as of 6:32 PM Pacific Time...
And people thought it was bad when
its the end!
Most Linux install disks will clean a PC. Not only will they clean the PC of the infection, but they will also clean it of spyware, as well as greedware. And it's free.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
It's easy to look down on uninformed people who want to learn how to use the Internet, and complain that they are the ones ruining it for all of us. You could instead take the opportunity to teach these newbies how to protect themselves online.
Considering that there seem to be hundreds or even thousands of uninformed people or every one informed one, perhaps some sort of mass-mailing would be in order?
Just send everyone an e-mail or two with a subject line like "Latest Microsoft Security Patches". Attach the latest Microsoft patches and include instructions to install them. That'll straighten everyone out!
Oh, and tell your everyone to send those e-mails to their friends, just in case.
Earplugs! Haven't you ever tried them? They work wonders with my noisy PC... Huh?! What did you say?
Free Firefox news reader.
Flights from Japan to the UK also go through the US... it's in the way.
Aha! Two Microsoft products sunk with one fell swoop?
don't laugh. A recent study has shown that reading slashdot at work was directly responsible for the tech slump.