> 1) They can't change IPs that often. If node operators (and even
> people who aren't node operators) configured their systems to detect
> portscans, and then reported them somehow, we could use updated
The danger isn't portscans - I really can't see even the most brash and
idiotic ISP portscanning their customers given that portscanning has been
determined, in court, to be an attack on a system and therefore illegal,
not to mention the fact that it would saturate someone's internet
connection, trigger warnings left,right, and center, and would be
ineffective once we incorporate Public/Private key authentication into the
protocol.
A much more effective way to obtain IP addresses of Freenet nodes is to
set up a Freenet node and harvest IP addresses from the datastore. The
problem with this is that you would have no control over the IP addresses
that you obtain, so most of them would probably be outside the US (where
the DMCA doesn't apply - yet), or hosted on networks which are not so
willing to disconnect people.
Within the US, the concern is that, even though kicking someone off for
having content on their machine *which was placed there by the very person
trying to kick them off* would almost certainly not stand up in court,
most ISPs would cave in. Of course, this is a classic consumer rights
issue, and gets even better when you throw in some monopoly controls
issues.
One interesting development is the "OpenNET Coalition"
(http://opennetcoalition.org/) - who are largely backed by - wait for it -
AOL, meaning that they will almost certainly be successful. These guys
are trying to allow any ISP to provide broadband access regardless of who
actually owns the last mile. This is good news, since it means that if
your ISP does kick you off their system, you just go to a different ISP,
and the only one who really looses is the ISP who kicked you off. Like
Pavlov's dog, I am sure they would learn quickly. Of course, all of this
depends on Freenet being in common usage, which is why Mr. Bad's alarmist
attitude risks sabotaging our best weapon against this sort of thing.
Ian.
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