The faculty member isn't thinking about distant learners at all. However, in this example tens of millions of people now have direct access to that course-specific information. One extreme is to seek the active engagement of such random interlopers and to ask them to pay tuition and register for the course. The other extreme is to block their access. In between is a great variety of new relationships that we're just beginning to explore.
Some state colleges offer distance education courses only to students living within that state.
When the purpose of such distance education is to provide access to education for those living in rural areas or otherwise unable to travel to a campus, as few as three or four students may be reason enough to maintain a site accessible to them. It is simply a generalized statement of observations.