On Sat, 24 Jul 1999, Frank Knobbe wrote:
> > No, the problem really is that even among us "educated
> professionals"
> > there's a difference of opinion as to what should or
> > shouldn't constitute
> > a computer crime. This is demonstrated beautifully by this thread.
> If
> > *we* can't decide what a computer crime is, how do we expect our
> > non-techno savvy lawmakers, who don't really understand the
> > issues, to get
> > it right.
>
> Good point. So what can we do to address this? Are there lobby groups
> of security professionals in an active dialog with lawmakers?
Thanks, I try! :) I don't know what can be done about it. There are
people who specialize in computer law, but most of the techies I know say
they're too busy to get involved with political activism, me.
In reality though, it's just that I'm too lazy to get my ass of the chair
in front of my workstation... ;-D
With this particular issue, it's also tough because we're so divided...
Personally I'm a huge fan of freedom. I think if it isn't likely to have
any negative impact and doesn't intrude on anyone's rights (i.e.
constitutionally guaranteed ones like speech and privacy, 'specially
privacy) it should be o.k.
I know someone's going to pick up on the privacy and try to use it against
me in the port scanning argument, so I'll preemtively defend by saying
that public corporations are not people and as such don't deserve the same
protection of privacy. I personally feel that an entity such as a
corporation should be open to public scrutiny, since it can play a big
role in the local ecology, so to speak, and are unfortuately not always
particulary interested in what's good for the "community" that they
operate in, if it isn't cost effective to be so. How does the "little guy"
defend himself from such an entity (this can mean any number of different
kinds of attacks... No need to delve...) But I'm really going off on a
tangent now, and really I think we've beaten this one to death.
I don't expect to change anyone's opinion here; systems people tend to be
too stubborn-minded! :) What I really hope that I have done is made
people THINK about the issues that so often people just blert opinions out
about without taking the time to analyze WHY they think that, or if it
even makes any sense -- we're all guilty of this from time to time. I hope
that I've brought points to light that hadn't been previously thought
about -- through these kinds of discussions, we get to know eachother and
to learn from each other. This discussion has certainly made ME think
about it in more detail than I had previously.
On the other hand, if I did sway some opinions, I'd love to hear about why
they were swayed... :)
Derek D. Martin | UNIX System Administrator
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