Finally, someone at Blizz (karune) confirmed the reasoning behind why they chose to exclude lan and how bnet is going to address security issues. This is pretty much exactly what I've been saying for the past couple days. So stop fretting about CAPTCHA's and LAN capabilities.

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Q u o t e:
As mentioned by Rob Pardo in interviews, piracy is a serious problem and often times tie in closely with LAN. At the end of the day, we want the best for the community and fans that support our games, and having chunk of the community pirate the game actually hurts the community.

1) Pirated servers splinter the community instead of consolidating all players who love to play the game. Battle.net will bring players together in skirmishes, ladder play, custom games, and allow everyone the opportunity to share a common experience.

2) More people on Battle.net means more even more resources devoted to evolving this online platform to cater to further community building and new ways to enjoy the game online. World of Warcraft is a great example of a game that has evolved beyond anyone's imagination since their Day 1 and will continue to do so to better the player experience for as long as players support the title. The original StarCraft is an even better example of how 11 years later, players still love and play this title, and we will continue to support and evolve it with patches.

We would not take out LAN if we did not feel we could offer players something better.

If I were to buy StarCraft II or any other title, I know the money I spent would be going to supporting that title. Personally, I would be upset that others were freeloading while others are legitimately supporting a title that has great potential and goals of making this title have 'long legs.'

If you like a song a lot, buy it, and that artist will only come out with more awesome songs for you. If you like a game, buy it, and we will promise to constantly work to make the player experience better at every corner we can.

Support the causes you believe in (This is applicable to all things, not just gaming).
Don't be a leech to society, innovation, and further awesome creations.

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So just hold your horses and wait for more info on bnet 2.0:

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Q u o t e:
Looks like the trolls are back. Hope I was able to address some of the LAN concerns. Honestly, there isn't much more to be said until we start talking about Battle.net 2.0, so if there are other threads about the recent Battle Report or press visit, going to divert some attention over there.

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Q u o t e:
All removing LAN support does is hurt legitimate buyers, pirates will have LAN and their free game.It might take them a while to reverse engineer it, but they WILL have it.

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More so than overbearing/invasive anti-piracy measures that would affect everyone who buys the game regardless of how they're going to play it instead of just those that may want a LAN feature? I would doubt it.

I don't know a lot about it, Diablo III isn't really facing the brunt of the Battle.net 2.0 features just yet, but I think that removing LAN in an attempt to avoid more severe anti-piracy measures is pretty cool. We're saying "Hey, we're pretty sure you're going to love our game. The multiplayer is really the best part though. In order to get in on that that we'd just like to make sure you bought the game. Cool?"

I understand all of the concerns being raised, some are perfectly valid in their own right. I don't hold great knowledge over the ins and outs of it all. I've had broadband for over 10 years now, so I may be a bit of an exception to all of this. I can't relate as much as I'd like.

I'd like to raise a few points to ponder though, just things that occurred to me. They won't help in answering any questions or dissuading concern, but they're valid points nonetheless and I think they should be considered before jumping to extremes.

You don't know the speed, location, and server availability of the new Battle.net
When, if not now, should multiplayer games be able to rely on the proliferation of broadband connections?
If BYOC and sponsored LAN events were to adapt to changing game requirements, could a single game alter or influence the structure of these events?
If a fast and stable connection was ensured, would this affect your ability to gather with friends to hold a party based around playing a game?
How many LAN parties have you been to where games were played where you connected to an outside server?

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Q u o t e:
While valid points, all it boils down to is, whether or not it is profitable to include LAN or not. No need for some bs about piracy etc. If you (blizzard) feel it's more profitable to not include it then by all means don't, but please just say it like it is.

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I don't think it's even a matter of reading between the lines to make the connection between piracy and profit...

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Q u o t e:
P.S. For the last question: A few, have you ever been to a LAN party where 40 computers try to get through one router to a server a few hundred miles away? Not fun I tell you.

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... well that's just poor networking.

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Q u o t e:
And I think Bashiok is getting tired of being nice.

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Not yet. If I ever do I just stop posting... ideally. :)