Slashdot Mirror
Blocking a Nation's IP Space
SComps writes "The Register has a good commentary about blocking Chinese IP space and some of the pros and cons surrounding that action. The question I post to Slashdot: "What is your opinion of this and what do you propose to help correct this?" Additionally, what sort of actions do other Slashdot users take to protect themselves from rogue IP space, be it national borders or even retail broadband/dialup providers such as wannadoo or comcast, roadrunner, etc?" The author of the article raises an interesting point, will this 'slippery slope' prove too difficult to walk?
You are free to block any addresses you want. However, I must ask what makes you so important that people must use the mail service you dictate in order to contact you? I think that doing what you have done would cause more inconvenience to myself than anything else. If people couldnt get through to me, they wouldn't switch providers, they would just stop emailing my pompous ass. The point is to block the bad, while letting the good stuff through.
Pompous? No, I'm just not concerned w/mail getting through. NOTHING is important enough for me to deal with spam, viruses, trojan, and spyware.
It's like anything else. If you want to contact me you do it my way, otherwise, I don't care. Believe me... The three people it might affect every year isn't a big deal. If anything, I did them, and everyone else, a favor.
Anyone, repeat, ANYONE who decides that the best course of recourse against possible attacks is to block an entire country is inept.
Ive already read many examples of this in previous comments marked as insightful?! From blocking entire subnets of DSL lines, to entire countries. Of course this works, but the solution requires as much thought as turning on a light bulb. If another country is overwhelming you in a territory, in this case the internet, then it should be taken as quite the wakeup call that a percieved solution is to BLACKLIST people from your content, guilty or not. And this is the best solution you can come up with? You call yourself a techie? You should be fired immediately, and without prejudice, from whatever job you have if it involves the responsibility of a computer environment that other people are using.
To use this solution to 'control' network traffic smacks of unimaginable incompetence at best, and a general attitude of no understanding what the hell is going on, at worst.
The 'friends' in this article are nothing but shadetree techies who think they have the slightest idea what they are doing because of a tool at their disposal. And most of the irresponsible key monkeys on this board dont see any problem with the initial pretense, and will ponder the question as if it is somehow legit.
However, just because you know how to use a hammer, doesnt mean every job or problem can be fixed with a hammer.
Sure, you say, whats the solution? If you arent part of the solution you are part of the problem, right? Well, frankly, I make my money by not being part of the problem, so why would I want to increase competition from those who cant figure it out for themselves? Thank goodness for the US education system! Its making me rich!