Re: Re: Exactly 500 word essay on "Why hacking iscool, so that Marcus changes his web site"

["Marcus J. Ranum" <mjr () ranum com>]

Gadi Evron wrote:
> Is studying biology bad? Is creating new medicine bad? The exact same guys and equipment can be used to design viruses.

You didn't ask the other question: "Is desigining killer viruses bad?"
to which I would respond "It is an abomination."

A doctor can spend a lifetime trying to figure out how to fight viruses
without having to develop killer viruses. A doctor who aids and abets
those monsters that would develop killer viruses is a fool, at best,
and a friend of monsters at worst.

Knowledge is power. With power comes responsibility. It's as simple
as that.

> Main question is, is thee Good in security research? The answer is yes.

I _agree_. There is also responsibility that comes with it, and a lot of
the readers of this list appear to be comfortable shirking it.

> This is moving from annoying to old.

You know what I think? I think it's annoying and old because I'm saying
things a lot of security practitioners are afraid to hear. I'm challenging
their comfortable self-justifying logic that lets them do reprehensible things
like educating the enemy and making money doing so. I'm making
some of you uncomfortable because I speak from the perspective of
someone who works with the victims of your friends.

I bet that's annoying. I bet that's "old."

mjr.