There oughta be a Law...

<rant>

So what is it with these non-techie internet users anyway?
And the companies that "provision" them (set them up to be pwned)? I've gotten tired of hearing from people that take their corporate notebook or corporate home machine (you know, the one the team I am on worked hard on creating a solid image for), and try to load PPoE or some lame ass cable company software on it. Fortunately most of them fail as they aren't administrators. Some folks however have gotten admin rights and screwed up their machines royally loading this crap.

Then comes the really unpardonable part - the installer hooks them up on the raw naked internet. No firewall, no NAT router, just "we like SPAM and you'll be sending it in 10 minutes". Sometimes the user does this hookup themselves. Don't these people realize that this is dangerous? How many of those same folks would leave their car parked and unlocked at night in an inner city? Why haven't they "gotten" it yet that you have to treat the internet the same way?

I mean come on - a basic Linksys or Netgear type NAT router is what $39? Is there some reason the installer doesn't bring one with them? Or build NAT into the darn cable/dsl modem? If the user does install a firewall and the ISP's service in the area goes down - what happens? The user call some tech support script reading drone in some other country who tells them they have to disable their firewall and anti-virus.

Let's examine a few other things people want to do:

• If you want to drive a car in most places, you take a written test and an actual driving test so that they can confirm that you actually do know you aren't supposed to speed up and go through red lights, cut other cars off, get drunk and drive, etc. Flunk the test, no drivers license.
  
• If you want to operate a HAM radio, you take a written test, and... - hey seems to be a theme here - you need a license for this stuff and you have to be tested to get one.
• If you want to be an internet user, you get out your wallet and give some money to an ISP. Wait a minute? That's IT? Where's the mandatory testing?
  

The problem becomes more clear. We let people (synonym Idiots or as Scott Adams says "InDuhviduals") connect up and start surfing with no actual knowledge of correct or safe behaviors.

Any takers? There oughta be a law...

</rant>