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From: gl8f@astsun7.astro.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: How much is information really worth?
Message-ID: <1990Sep10.190108.29008@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>
Date: 10 Sep 90 19:01:08 GMT
References: <1990Sep10.095011@bert.llnl.gov>
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Organization: Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia
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In article <1990Sep10.095011@bert.llnl.gov> howell@bert.llnl.gov (Louis Howell) writes:
>The lack of a consensus on ethical standards among computer users is
>serious, but even if one existed I'm not sure how much effect it would
>have on law enforcement, the media, and the public in general, who
>wouldn't know what we were talking about.  The destructive hackers would
>continue to get all the attention and thus color people's opinions of
>the whole community.

Actually, I think that most hackers DO have a fairly common ethical
standard, which criminals just don't share. We could force everyone to
sit through 6 hours of ideological instruction a day, and it's not
clear that a single crime will be prevented.

Effective law enforcement, on the other hand, could deter crime
without running all over our constitutional rights. I'm sure lots of
us have ideas on that topic. We don't have to throw away our rights
just to catch a few bad apples.

--
"Perhaps I'm commenting a bit cynically, but I think I'm qualified to."
                                              - Dan Bernstein