"Samuel W. Heywood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > [...] > The idea of punishing the idiots sounds good in theory but the > suspected idiot could swear that he didn't do it and the prosecutors > could not prove otherwise unless they could produce reputable > witnesses that would swear that they saw the suspected idiot doing it.
Actually, in computer cases, eye witnesses are not required so long as there's a good set of proof linking it all back to the "perpetrator". Presumably, once charges are to be pressed, computer forensics would be done. Even if the system has been wiped, proof that the ORIGIN of the traffic (not hard with e-mail logging and ISP records) was from that user is often sufficient. Ideally, negligence (i.e. "it was my kid") would also be punishable, just as there are laws already prosecuted for exactly this kind of situation. > [...] If the > suspected idiot has already reformatted and wiped clean his hard drive > for the purpose of getting rid of his virus, then they would have no > case. Nor would they have a case if he used illegal "munitions" software and similarly wiped it! A case must be made either way, using whatever forensics are available. Records of online activities are usually used, and presumably would be in either case. > [...] Would it be right for the suspected idiot to get > punished for something he didn't do? If a case can be made for negligence, sure. Why not? A case would still have to be made, of course. > The lifeguard would order me out of the public swimming pool if he > were to observe that I had an open wound. The SITUATION is what's dangerous. Open wounds have their place (i.e. surgery). Are we to make open wounds illegal? > [...] Like chlorine in the public swimming pool, the anti-virus > programs and the security patches cannot be relied upon to be 100% > effective on the internet. MicroSoft's security patches are about as > useless for virus prevention on the internet as a bandage is for > disease prevention in a public swimming pool. Yeah, but you can't ban everything that's not 100%! It certainly would make learning to program a precarious undertaking! Hey, this is all in fun. I don't _seriously_ expect to see software banned, and I suspect we're still a bit aways from the time when users are held responsible for their own bumbling actions. In the meanwhile, we can all grumble about the clueless dolts around us... AND their SUVs. :) - Bob To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe SURVPC in the body of the message. Also, trim this footer from any quoted replies. More info can be found at; http://www.softcon.com/archives/SURVPC.html
