Spamhaus Petitions UK Government for Monetary Penalties Against Bad Networks

[drmike]

Spamhaus is going after bad network operators via UK government now.

Anti-spam outfit Spamhaus has called on the UK government to fine those who are running Internet infrastructure that could be exploited by criminals. 

The fines would be akin to parking tickets, chief information officer of Spamhaus, Richard Cox, told PC Pro. Speaking from the Cyber Security Summit in London, which was attended by members of UK law enforcement and government, Cox said it should be illegal for people to leave servers unsecured, since that would allow crooks to use them as part of their attack infrastructure.

"Once they know it can be used for attacks and fraud, that should be an offence," Cox said. "You should be subject to something like a parking ticket... where the fine is greater than the cost of fixing it.

Whole story: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security/385666/spam-fighters-call-for-parking-tickets-on-unsafe-servers

 

[MannDude]

Good. In the US there are a few providers that that would hurt immensely, assuming the fines were nothing to sneeze at.

Question is, the money gathered from fines... what would it be applied to? How would it be used?

 

[Magiobiwan]

Spamhaus 

Who is Spamhaus about to piss off now...

 

[blergh]

spamhaus is a private company and still play internet police, fuck off spamhaus you suck.

 

[nunim]

spamhaus is a private company and still play internet police, fuck off spamhaus you suck.

I've found them to be one of the easier SBL's to deal with, they usually respond within 48 hours unlike some of the larger companies, i.e. AT&T or Yahoo.  I just got a reply today from AT&T, saying it will be delisted in 24-48hours, about a false positive I submitted last Monday...

I like this idea in concept but I don't see how it would work.  Spamhaus says you're bad, so you owe money... To who and where does it get spent?  God only knows.

 

[signius]

There is so many things wrong with this dumb idea i don't even know where to start.

Maybe the UK government should be fined first for all the security holes in their own networks as they are like a fucking sieve & also running such out of date software you couldn't make it up, plus many government websites will only work will Windows XP & IE 6 so actively telling users they have to use old exploitable software in order to use their services.

So if a server is exploited but configured correctly are they then going to fine the developers of the software ? If that's the case i guess Microsoft, Adobe, Cisco & 95% of the software industry would have gone bankrupt & out of business years & years ago.

Spamhaus is a private company that chose to go into the business area they have with full knowledge of the type of people & businesses they would be confronting & it is down to them to make sure they can cope with any attacks they encounter as a result of their own actions, going crying to a government after they got a bloody nose is outrageous & it is not a governments job.

Also it isn't like the UK Government or the EU have got a good track record when it comes to introducing well thought out technically workable laws when it comes to technology, the facts are the majority of laws are unworkable completely ill thought through & written by people who don't even have the most basic understanding of how the internet actually works.

Spamhaus may do some good work but on this occasion they are talking out their asses.

 

[InertiaNetworks-John]

spamhaus is a private company and still play internet police, fuck off spamhaus you suck.

Have to agree with you on this one.

Since when does a private company fine via the government?

 

[tchen]

Have to agree with you on this one.


Since when does a private company fine via the government?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decriminalised_parking_enforcement

 

[Kakashi]

Knowing the UK Government this will become another cash cow for them and it'll just get out of control like the parking tickets.

However just focusing on the UK isn't very fair when the vast majority of SPAM is generated outside.

 

[hostemo.com]

it is very difficult to provider to control those unethic spammer.

 

[Coastercraze]

Gov't: There's an increase in rape victims lately...

Spamhaus: You should fine them, because they were unsecure! They could have prevented being raped, it's their fault!

Sorry if it's a bit graphic, but it's essentially what they want.

 

[blergh]

Have to agree with you on this one.

Since when does a private company fine via the government?

Also; copyswede.