Originally posted here by Soda_Popinsky
Your terminology is incorrect in that honeypots are not part of the business function in just about any every enviroment. Production enviroments imply that there is a business function that cannot be interrupted. As such, you can assume that the business deploying a honeypot is doing so to protect their own investments, and not to enter the Anti-Spam (Anti-Whatever) industry. They probably wouldn't want the expense of counter-hack technology and the risks associated with it. Especially in Illinois.
You make perfect sense, but I don't think or intend to imply that "production" means the honeypots are fulfilling a business function. I think, too, that the honeynet project also doesn't mean to imply that - but I could be wrong.

"Production" means (to me) they are used to produce results (and not merely learn.) The terms "production honeypot" and "research honeypot" are, I think, meant to indicate that there are different forms of honeypot.

I could see a business using a production honeypot(as Microsoft did, with a zombiepot) but I'd think they'd maintain a huge separation between production business systems and production honeypots. If the "production" honeypot does no more than accept and record abuse attempts then I could see it being used more closely to the business functions - but I'm not the person to decide that for any business.

Even so, just as Microsoft saw fit to do other businesses could also take a more aggressive stance against abuse in order to reduce the level of abuse and thus benefit the business. That would be particularly so, I'd think, for ISPs and network connectivity providers. There'd also be a possibility of a changed reputation effect: if ISP A becomes known as one that detects abuse and institutes lawsuits or provides evidence for criminal prosecutions that ought to dissaude many of the potential abusers from even trying to abuse IP addresses controlled by ISP A. I don't think it matters a lot if any honeypot used in that effort is claimed to be a production honeypot in the business sense or not. What matters is that it does produce results.