page209
the future of iNterNet immuNe systems
187
whole network. The outsourced help-desk schlub who unlocks
your account can’t even spell “tripwire.” The same goes for the
algorithm that cut off your credit card because you got on an air-
plane to a different part of the world and then had the audacity
to spend your money. (I’ve resigned myself to spending $50 on
long-distance calls with Citibank every time I cross a border if I
want to use my debit card while abroad.)
This problem exists in macro- and microcosm across the whole
of our technologically mediated society. The “spamigation bots”
run by the Business Software Alliance and the Music and Film In-
dustry Association of America (MAFIAA) entertainment groups
send out tens of thousands of automated copyright takedown
notices to ISPs at a cost of pennies, with little or no human over-
sight. The people who get erroneously fingered as pirates (as a
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) spokesperson
charmingly puts it, “When you go fishing with a dragnet, some-
times you catch a dolphin.”) spend days or weeks convincing their
ISPs that they had the right to post their videos, music, and text
files.
We need an immune system. There are plenty of bad guys out
there, and technology gives them force-multipliers (like the hack-
ers who run 250,000-PC botnets). Still, there’s a terrible asym-
metry in a world where defensive takedowns are automatic, but
correcting mistaken takedowns is done by hand.
Content 2nd gal final.indd 187
7/4/08 9:57:35 AM