Who cares about my level of comfort here ?

If anything then Mech should be tested against real web sites so it seemed like a good case study showing that it is a dangerous thing as you might get false error reports and the user might conclude that your module is broken while only the tests are fragile.

Actually I posted this in the Meditations as I was sort of thinking aloud but then it was moved to the questions.

Anyway I agree with the earlier post of PodMaster that if you prompt for this question, the default should be no access so automatic tools - such as CPAN smokers - won't break.