Re: Extreme Hacking

[Tommy Ward <tommy () securify com>]

At 01:24 PM 7/7/99 +1000, Darren Reed wrote:

> But E&Y aren't teaching you how to secure a system, they're teaching you
> how to commit a crime, unless breaking into systems isn't a crime where
> they're taking those classes.

Breaking into your own computers is not a crime, yet.  There have been 
attempts by the software and entertainment industries to change this though
intellectual property legislation which would make it illegal to defeat any
security mechanisms in their products.

... snip ....

> ... In something that recent legislation
> here in Australia brought up, it's against the law to publish a book which
> is instructional on committing a crime.  The Internet has changed all that
> with instructional pages on just about everything under the sun available.
> I don't know if it's the same elsewhere with books....

...snip ...

Actually, even though we do have more intrusions from Big Brother every
year, at least in the US we still have freedom of the press.  This is
important,
because otherwise who will decide what "is instructional on committing
a crime"?  Is the owner's manual that tells how to properly clean a
handgun such an instruction?  What about the pamphlets from the
agriculture department that tell farmers how to make ponds using fertilizer
and diesel fuel explosives?  

And by the way, the Internet has not changed this at all, it has just made 
information easier to access.  I seem to recall The Anarchists' Cookbook 
as being in print long before  *.com became a household phrase.

...Tommy