Maybe someone with a public level of accountability--say the government--should start an adversarial inspection and certification program. Think about how we don't let cars on public roads unless they pass inspection, to verify that they aren't a ticking time-bomb in the middle of the highway--or no more so than usual.

Unlike vehicle registration, it wouldn't require you to have to do anything other than keep your system maintained. If you want to put your computer on the internet, be prepared to get port-scanned by the US Digital Service once a year/month/week/whatever, attempting to take your computer off the 'net. If it succeeds, then that's one machine that could have been--but now won't be--part of a botnet.

ChoasMonkey as a public works project.