Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!dsinc!netnews.upenn.edu!vax1.cc.lehigh.edu!cert.sei.cmu.edu!krvw From: CAH0@gte.com (Chuck Hoffman) Newsgroups: comp.virus Subject: Re: Antivirus viruses Message-ID: <0013.9008221137.AA19228@ubu.cert.sei.cmu.edu> Date: 20 Aug 90 15:20:40 GMT Sender: Virus Discussion List Lines: 26 Approved: krvw@sei.cmu.edu FXJWK@ALASKA (Jo Knox - UAF Academic Computing) writes: > As far as the morality/ethics question, I have no problems with this > idea; there's no reason you can't help someone without their > knowledge! Getting prior, informed, consent is fundamental in our culture, when you're about to mess with someone else's "stuff," whether that stuff is a posession, a creation, or the person's own body or mind. Just think of how arrogant you would have to be to presume to make choices and "fix" things for another adult without that person's consent. Maybe, just maybe, that person would like to try to fix things on her or his own, before seeking help from someone else. It can be pretty degrading to get help that you didn't ask for, and didn't want, even though the other person thought you needed it. Maybe pushing uninformed "help" on someone else will lead to a dependency of that other person on you. Maybe that would be nice for *you*, but not so nice for the other person in some cases, and maybe the underlying motives could be more self serving than altruistic. Prior informed consent really is fundamental in our culture. - - Chuck Hoffman, GTE Laboratories, Inc. cah0@bunny.gte.com Telephone (U.S.A.) 617-466-2131 GTE VoiceNet: 679-2131 GTE Telemail: C.HOFFMAN