I could live like an Eskimo, but prefer an easier life. How exactly will this help against the Microsoft bot net and why do you blame the user? The user is just going with the flow and is unaware of how bad things really are. Steps taken to secure a windoze box are mostly an expensive exercise in futility. Email and html, which can not be blocked, are the vectors of infection. Once infected, the host can be used for DDoS and spam, because surfing and email are what the customer is paying for and can not be blocked. Other ports can be used to control the victim so that spam contents are changed just as soon as the ISP has managed to block a particular message.
I can see that crimping upload speeds helps. I hate the crimps but admit that it's the only way to keep the ever present infected hosts from saturating the line. The only real way to fix the problem is to pull the plug on infected hosts. When users are made accountable for their machines and understand the damage done, they will see how bad things really are. Right now they just go out and buy a bigger computer or wipe and reload frequently to mitigate the problems infections cause to them and could care less about the common good. Users with bad attitudes deserve dial up. If the broadband market was not an artificial monopoly, a service that kept itself clean should be able to do very well.
