It is possible to use this sensibly - e.g. I don't really see the problem with using this to play a MUD/roguelike/etc. In that context, their security worries m

It is possible to use this sensibly - e.g. I don't really see the problem with using this to play a MUD/roguelike/etc. In that context, their security worries make complete sense. On the other hand, for certain environments, browser access is game over anyway. I'd expect that snarfing your customers' credit card info out of your admin consoles would get an attacker 99% of the value (s)he'd get from completely rooting you - just how careful are you about separating the internet and your admin consoles? Just how careful is the average HN user? (Note that your admin consoles would need a custom attack, though, while "open a reverse shell when logging in" would be considerably more general.) But yes, for many, many people, this is really scary.