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-- more on -- Appropriate punishments for hackers
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2003 07:30:10 -0400
Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2003 10:32:06 -0400 From: Seth Finkelstein <sethf () sethf com> Subject: Re: [IP] Appropriate punishments for hackers To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net> Lauren Weinstein wrote: > In essence, we've created a computing and network environment with the > equivalent of big red flashing "DO NOT PUSH" buttons all over the place out > in public, and then we act surprised and upset when bright, under-guided, > bored kids push them. That those buttons unleash such expensive > consequences speaks mainly to inanity of the environment we've created -- > and the important applications we've inappropriately deployed in that > environment -- and much less about the kids who push the "buttons." Can I point out that we often have exactly big red (though not flashing) buttons all over the place, as in fire alarms? And occasionally, bored kids do pull them for the fun of it. But despite that social vulnerability, it's also an offense. I think the problem here comes down to mutual responsibility. In the sense that Microsoft makes products where security is set deliberately low in order to increase marketability, and inevitably, malicious people take advantage of this tradeoff. Microsoft creating attractive nuisances doesn't excuse those who take advantage of them. But while it would be nice if there were no hostile people in the world, that can't be relied upon as a workable security solution. -- Seth Finkelstein Consulting Programmer sethf () sethf com http://sethf.com Anticensorware Investigations - http://sethf.com/anticensorware/ Seth Finkelstein's Infothought blog - http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/
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- -- more on -- Appropriate punishments for hackers Dave Farber (Sep 01)