http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060613/130246.shtml
$100 Laptops To Create Next Generation Of Malware Authors? from the wishful-thinking dept The head of anti-virus research for Kaspersky Labs says that sending cheap laptops to poor nations could help create a huge class of malware authors as an unintended consequence. While it's true that people don't often enough consider unintended consequences, these comments seem to ignore the main idea behind providing people with cheap laptops or other computing devices -- economic empowerment. It's inevitable that some people will use the devices for nefarious purposes, it's hard to see the economic benefits of such activities -- when compared to the legitimate economic opportunities the programs are intended to create -- being attractive enough to create a large-scale problem. There have been online extortion scams and other financially driven malware schemes, but the spread of computers and net connectivity into poorer nations isn't creating a widespread plague. Perhaps when you work in the anti-virus and security industry you're conditioned to expect the worst of people, but to think that giving poor people cheap computers will make them all into hackers is a bit extreme. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TELECOM-CITIES Current searchable archives (Feb. 1, 2006 to present) at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Old searchble archives at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
