I agree with you generally. It's not impossible, but probably unlikely for an individual to be sued for contents of cookie data or similar small fragments like that.
I do believe it's orders of more magnitude more likely for the 'average' residential consumer to attract a suit from the MPAA/RIAA/etc because there is a torrent stream emanating from their connection, and I have little faith that any provider would go out of their way to jump in front and say 'no no, that's our tech'. On Tue, Oct 12, 2021 at 5:15 PM Matthew Petach <mpet...@netflight.com> wrote: > > > On Tue, Oct 12, 2021 at 2:01 PM Tom Beecher <beec...@beecher.cc> wrote: > >> I think it would be absolutely *stunning* for content providers >>> to turn the model on its head; use a bittorrent like model for >>> caching and serving content out of subscribers homes at >>> recalcitrant ISPs, so that data doesn't come from outside, >>> it comes out of the mesh within the eyeball network, with >>> no clear place for the ISP to stick a $$$ bill to. >>> >> >> I'm familiar with some work and ideas that have gone into such a thing, >> and I'm personally very much against it for non-technical reasons. >> >> Given how far the law lags behind technology, the last thing anyone >> should be ok with is a 3rd party storing bits on ANYTHING in their house, >> or transmitting those bits from a network connection that is registered to >> them. >> > > *chortle* > > So, I take it you steadfastly block *all* cookies from being stored > or transmitted from your browser at home? > > Oh, wait. You meant it's OK to let some third parties > store and transmit bits from your devices, but only > the ones you like and support, and as long as they're > small bits, and you're sure there's nothing harmful or > illegal in them. > > So, that means you check each cookie to make sure > there's nothing in them that could be illegal? > > You sure someone hasn't tucked something like > the DeCSS algorithm, or the RSA algorithm into > a cookie in your browser, like this? > > https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Munitions_T-shirt_(front).jpg > > https://www.cafepress.com/+,954530397?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=pla-google&utm_campaign=7979505756-d-c&utm_content=83814261273-adid-395151690662&utm_term=pla-1396845372217-pid-954530397&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5JSLBhCxARIsAHgO2SeM10JbFgeus96hEedn0d0m2Kkz6Z91-frlEIUh-3ZD2w89j8EUmCsaAvnAEALw_wcB > > The fact of the matter is, every one of us allows > third parties to store data on all our devices, all > the time, and send it back out on the network, > completely unsupervised by us, even though > it could contain data which is illegal to cross > certain arbitrary political boundaries. > > I understand where you're coming from, I really > do. > > But I don't think people stop and think about just > how completely that ship has sailed, from a legal > standpoint. You could have been asked by a random > website to store code which is illegal to export in a > cookie which is then offered back up to any other > website in whatever jurisdiction around the globe > that asks for it, and you'll be completely unaware > of it, because we've all gotten past the point of "ask > me about every cookie" being a workable setting on > any of our devices. > > Go ahead. Turn off all cookie support on all your devices > for 24 hours. Don't let any of that third party data in or out > of your home during that time. > > Let me know how well that turns out. > > Bonus points if you enforce it on your family/spouse/SO/partner > at the same time, and they're still talking to you at the end of the > 24 hours. ;-P > > Matt > > >