[ianbishop]

This sort of cheater purgatory existed even in the later days of CS 1.6 as well. Secure servers were only available from legitimate STEAM accounts but players could create 'insecure' (no VAC) servers that were still publicly listed.

These servers quickly became havens for players connecting using modified software (free clients and so on) and those who had steam accounts which had been "vac'd".

Ironically, included in this list were a lot of servers who hosted third-party anti-cheat software, as it conflicted with VAC - creating unjustified bans.

[petitmiam]

1.6 is still currently like this.