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Boing Boing Founder Warns of "Internet AIDS"
An anonymous reader writes "Cory Doctorow, founder of Boing Boing, says he doesn't have a problem in principle with the automated network defense systems that guard the Internet against malware, spamigation bots, and other network nasties. However, in his article 'The Future of Internet Immune Systems,' he bemoans the problems caused by 'Internet autoimmune disorder' — where the network defenses designed to block network attacks are automated and instantaneous, but the systems in place to reverse erroneous lockdowns are manual and unresponsive."
We still need humans on the other end to fix automation's bugs; algorithms cannot bypass themselves.
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For a lot of autonomic systems, you need the blocking, but a little automatic forgiveness goes a long way.
EG, in a scan detector, forgive 1 scan per minute/hour and eventually release the block. This saves a call to tech support, and papers over a lot of sins when building an automatic system.
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The summary title is stupid.
AIDS is not auto-immune; it is immuno-deficient. The FA doesn't mention AIDS. Try this.
the systems in place to reverse erroneous lockdowns are manual and unresponsive
Anyone who is married knows how much of a dilemma this presents...
"If you think you have things under control, you're not going fast enough." --Mario Andretti
It's not lupus, it's never lupus.
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These various Spam Blocking Lists (or SBLs) are almost all automated. A few of them let you push a button and get removed. However some of them require manually emailing an explanation and still others try to extort money from you to speed up the unblocking process. We didn't even send any spam. The previous owners of the IP did.
If this isn't a strong argument that blacklisting systems are unethical, I don't know what is. Imagine being targeted by vigilantes because you bought a house which was previously occupied by a sex offender and so the addreess is listed on the local sex offender registry. That's essentially what's happening here.
There is no such thing as an "evil IP address" any more than there is an "evil house." These systems are technically, logically, as well as ethically flawed. Anybody who buys into blacklist-based technology is a reactionary and a bigot.
Fine, block it for the duration of the attack, but don't keep it permanently on the list. Most spam and DoS attacks originate from hijacked PCs on dynamic IP addresses, so you're not only blocking the PC that's been hijacked, but also the guy who happens to get that IP address next, and the one after, and the one after that, etc, etc.
Only if we get to call a tiered internet "Internet racism."
Spam is email that forces itself upon me -- that can be "Internet rape."
What Comcast is doing to bittorrent traffic: "Internet genocide."
And the projected brownouts as described by that other article on the front page right now: "Internet Alzheimer's."
These attention-grabbing headlines are so accurate and informative!