A question for the group

Actually, I don't think we are too different. I'd certainly prefer no filtering to too much filtering from the ISP - it is better to get spams and even virus emails than to have legitimate email blocked. Any spam checking in particular must be fully controlled by the user (even if it is carried out by the ISP's server) - presumably there are some people out there who think special offers for little blue pills are important legitimate emails. Viruses are a bit different - no one wants them, and false positives for virus checkers are orders of magnitude lower than for spam checkers. And while spams are harmless (merely annoying), viruses are dangerous.

ISPs should provide a proper firewall, individually controllable by each customer, providing the same sort of protection as hardware firewall/routers, or they should include a cheap device in their startup package.

It's vital that people are free to do as they will with their internet connection (Net Neutrality is a Good Thing), but for the sake of everyone, newbies should be better protected from themselves. Firewalls that default to denying all incoming traffic, but can be configured to enable ports as required, would be a good step.

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And the new net gods said, "All you data am belong us."