[dns-operations] German law was Re: A Case Against DNSSEC

[Florian Weimer]

* Edward Lewis:

>>Germany, for instance.  Providing facilities for illegal gambling is
>>illegal as well.  If you do it commercially or as part of a gang,
>>there's a minimum three month prison sentence.
>
> Being not a lawyer myself, arguing that mitigating a DDoS targeting 
> an on-line casino is a violation of the law would be like saying that 
> highway maintenance workers (a gang if I ever saw one) are guilty of 
> abetting illegal gambling if they clear the road of snow and enable 
> someone to get to an illegal betting parlour.

I would have to look it up in the library, but I'm pretty sure that
the article's intent to make it a criminal offense to knowingly rent
rooms for gambling purpose, for instance.  The question is if your
countermeasures merely restore access by addressing a network anomaly,
or if you provide resources which are an integral part of a successful
gambling business.  If you are an unrelated party, your ad-hoc
measures likely fall in the former category.  But not if you are
contracted to provide support.

It seems rather obvious to me that questionable legality of these
businesses makes them an easier target for extortionists.  If this is
not the case, why don't they target other organizations with big
pockets?