LaCosaNostradamus's Journal: A License to Access the Net is Elitist Rubbish

I read this slashdot article. It is more elitist rubbish. People do more pervasive damage with their sexual organs with making children they can't support. But pushing for fertility licenses will probably get you shot (unless you're writing science fiction about it a la Larry Niven).

The net is a library and soapbox that also runs programs. Current library models simply want to know who you are (liability for items borrowed; residency requirements for use of tax money), and don't license you per se. And the soapbox issue is rather clearly stated under speech freedoms and restrictions (at least in certain countries).

The problem is in the programs (and to some extent the data -- like MP3s and warez -- which may a hidden agenda behind such licensing suggestions, like classism and racism can be for fertility ones). And the elitism comes into play when whatever licensing scheme you'd envision just automatically takes the current list of the usual suspects and plugs them right back into the grid -- such as any programmer working for a corporation. And we all know that none of those folks produce viruses, right? Sheesh.

Y'all are worried about the 5cr1p7 k1dd135, but there's a larger problem that bumping them off the net won't solve. The heart of the problem is that people who don't have lines of trust with other people still have lines of communication and economics. I never quite understood the motivation to open one's servers to the Internet, to the extent it usually is, as it has happened all along the way. It must've been the "irrational exuberance" to grow things as large as possible, which guaranteed that security and trust would be stretched too thin. Bitnet et al were better models, but they grew too slowly for this horseshit modern thinking about explosive growth. Bitnetty technology would've produced a worldwide internetwork ... in time. It would've been worth the wait.

Well, y'all wanted to be able to send email around the world in minutes if not seconds, so be prepared to be r00t3d every week or so due to that horrendously pervasive infrastructure. License folks all you want; your beloved system of equipment and connections is inherently insecure and will allow the inevitable thousands of troublemakers across the world to bring it grief.

Let's put all our appliances on the net, too, so someone can activate our stove while we're gone and burn the fucking house down. Twits.