dorn@fabscal.UUCP (Alan Dorn Hetzel Jr.) (11/11/88)
While I feel that Morris should receive some punishment for his actions, I don't believe he should be crucified/imprisoned for billions of years/ tarred and feather/etc. While he caused a very large number of people some fairly serious inconvenience, he did *not* ruin anyones whole life, and I don't believe we should ruin his in retaliation. (Not that it's up to us, anyway) In any case, I think he should be charged with a misdemeanor (as oppossed to a felony). He should be fined, probably enough to hurt, but not enough to devastate his family. Maybe the fine should be distributed to the administrators throughout the net who worked to stop the beastie (probably not practical, but certainly fitting). He should have to perform fairly onerous amounts of community service, but not so much to flunk him out of school. In conclusion, I would like to say that I don't believe inconvenience to many can be equated with grievous harm to one. You could waste the time of every person on the planet, and it would not constitute the moral equivalent of killing just *one* of them. Let's crucify the real criminals folks, it ain't like we don't have enough of them to go around nowadays! Alan Dorn Hetzel, Jr. gatech.edu!fabscal!dorn