Probably someone on the remote machine with restricted or no internet connection and admin privileges. It happens e.g. on company or academic clusters.
It is much easier to ask admin to install emacs and use defaults than to ask to install emacs and packages (and resolve problems that may happen on the way).
It is much easier to ask admin to install emacs and use defaults than to ask to install emacs and packages (and resolve problems that may happen on the way).