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0 pointsFlorin_Andrei9y ago0 comments

So grandpa goes to Home Depot, buys a fancy new thermostat and installs it at his home, the device gets hijacked by the archetypal 400 lb hacker, and is used to take down a major commercial site, and then grandpa is liable for the whole thing?

I don't think so.

You make a little gizmo with shitty security, you are liable. Full stop.

0 comments

ams61109y ago

So grampa doesn't take care of his car, the brakes fail and he kills a family with four kids. Is he liable? Yes. He may not know the first thing about brakes or car repair but owns the car, and he took it out on the road without being sure it was in safe operating condition.

But to steal an idea from another comment, make the ISPs liable also for routing the malicious traffic onto the internet. They will then have incentive to monitor their networks and they can take homes offline until their customers fix or disconnect their hacked devices.

jlgaddis9y ago

I'm the "head fred" networking/infrastructure guy at an ISP. I want to avoid, as much as possible, peeking at my customer's traffic.

In my personal opinion, an ISP should be a dumb pipe. I'm providing you with the ability to send/receive "n" bits per second; I don't care whether you use it to participate in e-mail discussions with your church group or stream pornography and play online poker.

Are you certain you want ISPs to be responsible for monitoring all of your traffic and what you're doing online? Do you really want somebody else deciding -- at their own discretion -- what is "acceptable" for you to do online?

I'm very pro-privacy, pro-encryption, "pro-Internet freedom", etc., but the next guy may not be.

Florin_AndreiOP9y ago

And so grandpa needs to become a network security expert to avoid getting sued. Right, "makes sense". ;)

This is not like not doing maintenance on your car. This is like buying a car with faulty airbags. The manufacturer needs to issue a recall and fix the darn thing - or else face legal action.

woliveirajr9y ago

And here we go with what is malicious traffic.

Leaked news put the government in shame?

Copyrighted materail transmission?

Code to raise the temperature of some heater?

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