more o n (right on) Halt, or the Computer Gets It

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 07:45:47 -0400
From: Dana Blankenhorn <danablankenhorn () mindspring com>


http://www.corante.com/mooreslore/20030601.shtml#40381

The Nature of Secrets

The nature of secrets is they don't stay secret long. The bigger the secret,
the faster the discovery.

The A-Bomb didn't stay secret. The H-Bomb didn't stay secret.

It has been possible to "remotely destroy" another computer for some time.
The method is called a virus. But most of us use anti-virals, or firewalls,
or both. I'm certain most people on file-sharing networks use them. And
remember -- Kazaa is just ftp with a database attachment -- the technology
is basic to the Internet. It can't be uninvented.

But what if Orrin Hatch's dream (previously known, Republicans should shout,
as Democrat Howard Berman's dream) were possible? What if it were possible
to slip something behind a firewall, something that would not be identified
as a virus, some sort of power surge, and destroy someone's computer
remotely, through the Internet, as they were downloading something a
copyright holder identified as theirs that hadn't been paid for (by the
person whose computer it was residing on)?

The answer is hackers would get the technology very, very quickly.
Terrorists would get the technology very, very quickly.

And Orrin Hatch would be unable to compute anymore. Neither, for that
matter, would I. Neither would you. That code would spread, not like a
virus, but like spam, and destroy the Internet forever.

Until someone found an antidote, something they could install on each new
computer, which would keep that code from activating.

In which case we would be right back to where we are now. That is the nature
of secrets.

Dana Blankenhorn

Dana Blankenhorn   dana () a-clue com
The Blankenhorn Effect  http://www.trafford.com/robots/02-1082.html
Subscribe to A-Clue.Com  http://www.a-clue.com
Visit my Moores Lore blog at  http://www.corante.com/mooreslore

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
To: ip () v2 listbox com <ip () v2 listbox com>
Date: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 6:44 AM
Subject: [IP] Halt, or the Computer Gets It


>
>--- begin forwarded text
>Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 17:13:08 +1000
>From: Nathan Cochrane <ncochrane () theage fairfax com au>
>
>
>Hi Dave
>
>It sounds like a line out of a Mel Brooks' comedy, but US Senator Orrin
>Hatch is seriously suggesting that copyright holders should be able to
>remotely destroy the computers of people they suspect of illicitly trading
>intellectual property. I used to think the guy didn't have a sense of
humour
>until I read these remarks of Hatch's during testimony to the US Senate
>Judiciary Committee, of which he is chairman, reported by AP's Ted Bridis:
>
>"If we can find some way to do this without destroying their machines, we'd
>be interested in hearing about that," Hatch said. "If that's the only way,
>then I'm all for destroying their machines. If you have a few hundred
>thousand of those, I think people would realize the seriousness of their
>actions," he said.
>
>"There's no excuse for anyone violating copyright laws," Hatch said.
>
>Here's what's wrong with the idea -- it would be open season on peoples'
>computers.
>
>http://bilskirnir.blogspot.com
>
>-
>Nathan Cochrane
>Deputy IT Editor
>:Next:
>The Age and Sydney Morning Herald
>http://www.next.theage.com.au
>
>
>
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