In the case where your device was compromised and used in a botnet attack, wouldn't you need to prove damages? I'm just curious what that argument would look like to a layperson.

I suspect the average person wouldn't get too riled up to hear that their internet connection was used to block someone's website, as long as they don't notice it in their service quality.

Another tangent -- do any sophisticated botnet systems throttle their connection during an attack to minimize impact on the device/network owner?

[edit - in case it's not clear, I'm admittedly ignorant about this kind of stuff, so I was just curious if anyone else can shed some light]