[thelist] RE: [OT] blaster worm punishment

[Stephen Rider]

On Jan 31, 2005, at 10:14 AM, Steven Streight wrote:

> If someone unleashed a pest in your house that began
> destroying everything in it, your library, CD
> collection, photo scrapbooks, television, furniture,
> wouldn't you be angry?

Yes.

> If I snuck up on you while you were asleep, and
> injected you with a disease, like polio, or
> Alzheimers, or some cancer, what would that make me?

A murderer.

> If I poured sand into your car's engine, and sugar
> into your gas tank, and punctured your tires, what
> then?

A vandal.

> For those who don't like any mention of "terrorists",
> thinking it merely a Republican buzzword: The juiciest
> target for terrorists is the internet and networked
> systems of anybody who doesn't agree with them.

Yes, but that doesn't make any idiot who puts out a virus a 
"terrorist".  This word has become massively overused in recent years.  
No, not everyone who does "something bad" qualifies for the term.

> And why blame the carpenter if your house is not an
> impregnable fortress?

Impregnable fortress? No.  But if my house has gaps in the walls, a 
leaky roof, and a front door that pops out of the frame any time anyone 
gives it a good tug, I sure as heck _would_ blame the carpenter.

Steve Rider