Can the U.S. Government make a difference?
Certainly. The government could impose many types of restrictions on the internet that could greatly limit such types of attacks, at least from U.S.-based computers. Getting on the web could require the equivalent of a “Driver’s License”, having a website could require the equivalent of a “Commercial Permit”, and all ISP’s could be tightly regulated, much as the public utilities (Water, Power, etc.) are today. However the government is treading a fine line between limiting criminal activity and limiting economic growth, education, freedom of information, and general personal freedoms. For the time being, the U.S. government appears to be looking for approaches that are consistent with a non-intrusive approach. For example, President Clinton proposed that we develop an information security “cyber-corps” of recent college grads to fight DDoS and other cybercrimes. While this is a sensible proposal, will there be a rush of computer science grads who will want to join such a group? Compute
Certainly. The government could impose many types of restrictions on the internet that could greatly limit such types of attacks, at least from U.S.-based computers. Getting on the web could require the equivalent of a “Driver’s License”, having a website could require the equivalent of a “Commercial Permit”, and all ISP’s could be tightly regulated, much as the public utilities (Water, Power, etc.) are today. However the government is treading a fine line between limiting criminal activity and limiting economic growth, education, freedom of information, and general personal freedoms. For the time being, the U.S. government appears to be looking for approaches that are consistent with a non-intrusive approach. For example, President Clinton proposed that we develop an information security “cyber-corps” of recent college grads to fight DDoS and other cybercrimes. While this is a sensible proposal, will there be a rush of computer science grads who will want to join such a group? Compute
