I agree that the cost of the garbage can is an issue. But I can’t imagine the outrage there would be if people suggested changes to make op return cheaper. However it is not an attack vector. Illegal data in the block chain isn’t an attack because running a node does not make you responsible for the encoded data in your node. Living in Any jurisdiction that says otherwise and you probably have bigger issues than the size of op_return and you should probably spend your time gathering guns and explosives and do some house cleaning. The tree of liberty isn’t going to water itself.

I would say if you care about self custody you run a full node. If you feel like this is a moral bridge too far I’d suggest you grow up. There is a lot of disagreeable shit in this world and a few low res images you have to go out of your way to see in a world drowning in HD smut is a pretty lame hill to die on.