re: Dangerous ramblings from Malone

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Rahul Tongia <tongia () cmu edu>
Date: July 11, 2009 3:49:18 AM EDT
To: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Cc: nnsquad () nnsquad org
Subject: [ NNSquad ] Re: Dangerous ramblings from Malone
Reply-To: tongia () cmu edu

Lauren,

Your post made me read his entire column.

The way his quote (excerpted below) reads is as if he is claiming  
there were millions of teenage, broadbanded, laptop users in N. Korea,  
who, his logic goes, clearly weren't spontaneously attacking other  
nations.  Ergo, it's a state act.  This is another blatant case of  
false dichotomies.  Are there even that many broadband users in N.  
Korea? As you point out, it doesn't take a nation to coordinate an  
attack, just a bunch of coordinated machines. These could be anywhere.

India and Pakistan have had decades of rivalry in cyberspace (and the  
physical space).  People I have talked to mention that there are many  
attacks on Indian govt. websites, far fewer on Pakistani.  This is NOT  
(per private discussions) because of governmental policies per se but  
also because of the disaffected youth, who get implicit or tacit  
blessings only. In Pakistan, they have few outlets. In India, they can  
get a read job.

So, when any country's disaffected/misguided youth pull a stunt like  
this, at what point are we able to say the nation is to blame?  The  
nation may enjoy the fruits, but they didn't do it directly...

Rahul






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