[tripzilch]

I agree that it's an ethics problem, and a non-trivial one at that.

It seems like another problem caused by the fact that code can be data and data can be code. By which I mean, both are information. 'Free speech' implies the intent to be communicated to people, and can be considered 'data'. However a DDoS is a bunch of information with the intent of affecting the behaviour of computer systems, and can be considered 'code'.

The problem lies in discriminating between the two, given that "bits don't have colour", as explained here: http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/entry/23

I'm not at all sure what the right answer is, here. I'm also not 100% convinced that Cloudflare has the right approach, but I'm leaning to "yes", considering the alternative.

(by the way, you'd probably be interested in watching the youtube clip jgrahamc posted elsewhere ITT, with someone from Cloudflare saying some words about their perspective on this dilemma: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12564876)