Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bionet!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!ucdavis!iris!heberlei
From: heberlei@iris.ucdavis.edu (Todd)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Ethics (about viruses)
Message-ID: <4900@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
Date: 17 Jul 89 16:57:17 GMT
References: <11648@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU>
Sender: uucp@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu
Reply-To: heberlei@iris.ucdavis.edu (Todd)
Organization: U.C. Davis - Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Lines: 38

In article <11648@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU> jasmerb@mist.CS.ORST.EDU (Bryce Jasmer) writes:
>I can't believe that they suggested use of commercial programs to fight
>viruses. Selling a product to fight viruses seems like the most 
>unethical thing a programmer could do. (And for MacWeek to suggest
>such a product is another story.) What has happened to our ethics?
>
>Bryce Jasmer		   | people tend to make sweeping generalizations. We
>jasmerb@hobbes.cs.orst.edu | all are guilty of this."

The ethics question should first be addressed to the people who write
the viruses!  Does anyone know if any virus writers have ever been
caught and prosecuted?

Here are a few (completely unfounded) suspects for virus writers
(please take this as purely tongue in cheek):

* software houses - if there is a good public domain package out there
that competes with your product (ie. Disinfectant vs Virex:-), wouldn't
you want to discredit the public domain arena.  That is, if you could
convince everyone that free software is VERY DANGEROUS, they may pay
the bucks for you software.

* software sellers (including software houses) - If your business is
hurting because people are using pirated software, you could
distribute pirated software with viruses.  If ethics won't stop a
person from copying software, maybe a virus will.  Convince people
that pirated software is dangerous, and maybe people will buy the
originals.  (I believe this was the motivation for the creators of the
Pakastani Virus)

* sellers of virus protection software - Create a problem then sell
the solution.

On the serious side, I find it terribly sad that talented people would
spend their time creating viruses.  Even if the virus is benign (sp?),
someone else will probably mutate it into something dangereous.

-Todd