On Sat, Aug 30, 2003 at 10:39:53AM -1000, Jason Coombs wrote: > if he made the modifications and gave the modified worm to other people but > didn't cause it to infect anyone else's computers, then what crime is he > guilty of exactly? criminal misuse of a hex editor?
it could certainly be argued that the "damage" caused by this copy of the program is no greater than it would have been if his home computer had simply been infected and passed it on in the usual way. in fact, maybe he is even the pioneer of a new art form where people, out of respect for the rights of the autonmous agent, refuse to remove these programs from their computers and use hex editors to tattoo their message onto the worms' backs. i can see web sites with worm poetry -- the random juxtaposition of sentences that trace a particular worm geneaology as it passes across the mesh, perhaps even paper-bound volumes. other than neglecting to install a program with a genocidal attitude towards certain processes, what exactly did this guy do wrong? _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html
