rich@pro-exchange.cts.COM (Rich Sims) (09/05/88)
Dave Lyons writes: >I would be in favor of a bill making it illegal to write (1) >malicious software and (2) viruses, whether they intentionally cause >damage or not. <additional text deleted> >Where would YOU (all of you) draw the line between what should be >legal and what should be illegal, and why? I think I'll skip the "list" you posted, and respond more generally. I'd have to disagree with the idea of "making it illegal to write a virus", but (in part) for reasons different than those mentioned by the others. First of all, such a law would be unenforceable without total governmental control and access to *every* computer, *everywhere*... we don't need laws like that, we've already got plenty of them. (Come up with reasonable and enforceable legislation that serves a useful purpose and I'd re-think that point!) Secondly, there is nothing inherently wrong with an individual writing any type of code he (or she, to avoid flak) feels like. What *is* wrong, is the intent of the individual to cause damage by distribution of code which does all the things mentioned. The mere fact that it "could" possibly "escape" is not sufficient reason to make it illegal. If it were, *all* research, in any field, would have to be banned on the grounds that it might result in some harmful effect, either directly, or indirectly. Since this is a "less than perfect" world, populated by "less than perfect" people, there will always be those who will attempt to cause trouble in one way or another. That includes writing computer viruses. If it were illegal to write one, and all the folks with good intentions and high principles were to obey that law, there would be no programs available to detect and eliminate the viruses written by people who paid no attention to the law. After all, it's a bit difficult to write software that you can't test, and the only way to test anti-virus software is to write a variety of viruses to try it out on, just to make sure it works! There are seldom any "simple" solutions to real problems. In many cases, what looks like a good idea at first, is really akin to opening Pandora's box. -Rich Sims- UUCP: [ sdcsvax nosc ] !crash!pro-exchange!rich || pro-exchange: 305/431-3203 ARPA: crash!pro-exchange!rich@nosc.mil || 300/1200/2400/9600 (HST) INET: rich@pro-exchange.cts.com || login = 'register'
bird@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Walters) (09/07/88)
> Dave Lyons writes: > I don't want to make David Lyons the focas of this response - he is mearly a way in which I can answer since he is one of the people in the Apple world that I can bounce off of. Most of the people that want to become pirates/virus-writers are 13 or younger. Jumping on these young folks is counter productive. What we have to undersatnd is that they are people that we have to love/hate. If they are not what we would want to be is not material. They are what they THINK we would want them to be. In dealing with them I've found it productive to point out that if someone doesn't buy software, in time, there won't be new software for us to buy. -- Joe Walters att!ihlpf!bird IHP 1F-240 (312) 416-5356