The first legality, has no precedent. Not only is it nearly impossible to prove that the traffic - traffic they welcomed with their spam - is legit or a DDoS, there appears to be no laws in place relating to such activity. One cannot yet state with all certainty that what Lycos is doing is "illegal", though in strictly legal terms, one could definitely say they are walking a
Actually I think the precedent is there and Lycos is not walking a thin line at all. Equate what they are doing to having a picket line out in front of a brick and mortar business. As long as they are not "stopping" legitimate customers from entering and transacting business they are within their legal rights to conduct their protests. If the business being picketed feels that the protestors are slowing down their business then the only way to stop the picket is to address the concerns of the protestors. The same with a labor dispute with the management of a company. If so-called "scabs" cross the picket line to work for that company the protestors only get in trouble if they try to stop the people seeking to cross the line.
A picket line is both legal and ethical as long as the intent is to protest. Lycos seems to have put in place with their "health-check" on the server being attacked (protested) the protections to help ensure that they stay on the side of protesting the business rather than crossing the line of inflicting damage by burning down the establishment.
thin line. It's hard to prove "intent" in this case... at least prove intent of the individual nodes. Intent of Lycos is clear, and that's why I'm pretty sure it's THEIR necks on the line. It's up to each person to
Sure it is. Read the very short disclaimer that is presented before you download the screensaver. It clearly outlines the intent of both Lycos and the person that will run the screensaver.
The second, ethics, I would argue is not a black-and-white answer. If you are the type of person that sees right and wrong as 100% absolute, then what Lycos (and hence, participant in the program) is doing is either ethical or unethical... probably *unethical*, to you. Ethically speaking, it becomes up to each person to then decide if killing a spammer's website, with the intent of stopping their *PROVEN* illegal practice, is ethical.
You need to read what Lycos is actually doing. They are NOT going to Kill the site rather to slow down the traffic and raise the cost of doing business in the same way that a picket line in front of a business does. Now if Lycos did not put in place these protections and actually allowed the traffic they were responsible for generating to "kill" the spammers website than they would be in violation of their software agreement between them and the people using the screensaver.
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