Re: Recent Attacks

["Philip J. Koenig" <pjklist () ekahuna com>]

On 18 Feb 00, at 20:35, Ryan Russell boldly uttered: 

> However, say it was discovered that the attackers were using ISS's
> Internet Scanner.  Let's say the feds get away with nailing him with 1.2B
> or more in damages.  Wouldn't that leave a nice path open for suits
> against Mixter and ISS?  Wouldn't 10% of the damages (or a little less) be
> a reasonable amount to nail them with?  Especially ISS who actually has
> the money?
>
> Be careful about advocating huge amounts of damages, especially if you
> work in the security industry.  There are a lot of scary laws up for vote
> right now, and not a lot of sympathy for anyone who wants to use the title
> "hacker" for anything.
>
>                                       Ryan



I agree that there is a very slippery slope here, and potentially
bad precedent ready to get set by lots of clueless politicians
trying to make impressive noise. (Case in point: ridiculous
"anti-spam" bill now under consideration which is more like a
pro-spam proposal)

The US govt wants to have the ability to remotely snoop home 
computers whenever they want to (whatever happened to innocent 
before proven guilty), use your cell phone as a tracking 
device, and at every turn tries to mandate encryption back-doors 
and all manner of such things.

Sooner or later "crying wolf" when it comes to stuff like 
the recent DDoS disruptions may end up having a not altogether
positive effect in the long run.



Phil