Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!sunybcs!ugfeldmn
From: ugfeldmn@sunybcs.uucp (Jon Feldman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Guidelines for virus authors
Message-ID: <8386@sunybcs.UUCP>
Date: 8 Feb 88 17:56:13 GMT
References: <8802072054.AA03747@jade.berkeley.edu>
Sender: nobody@sunybcs.UUCP
Reply-To: ugfeldmn@joey.UUCP (Jon Feldman)
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Organization: Jondata Wizards, Worlocks, and Wenches
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In article <8802072054.AA03747@jade.berkeley.edu> FATQW@USU.BITNET
(Bryan Ford) writes:
>[Yes, I'm serious!!]
>I don't think we should discourage people from writing viruses, as long as they
>are harmless.  You have to make the distinction between a practical joke and
>vandallism (sp?).  I think probably SCA was meant as a practical joke, except
>the authors didn't take precautions to keep it that way (i.e. it unexpectedly
>turned out that it WILL destroy things).

One can't forsee all possibilities; therefore one shouldn't even start
writing strangoid things like viruses.

>[A lot of somewhat reasonable points deleted]
>Anyway, basically the idea is to make viruses (semi-)harmless.

By definition, viruses are _never_ harmless.  They can be funny, but
no `practical joke' is ever harmless.

Hey!  Any biologists out there?  Look, you could design a REAL virus
that hides in one's boots ??? ... nah... ;-)

"A joke is Good by the proportion of Destruction and Pain it cause
					- Unknown

>        Bryan Ford                    //// A computer does what \\\\
>Snail: 1790 East 1400 North          //// you tell it to do, not \\\\
>        Logan, UT 84321         \\\XX///  what you want it to do. \\\XX///
>Email: FATQW@USU.BITNET          \XXXX/ Murphy's Law Calendar 1986 \XXXX/

						- Jon

 .  .   .     .      .       .        .       .      .     .    .   .  . .
Jon Feldman  InterNet:  ugfeldmn@joey.cs.buffalo.edu		      _^--^_
                 uucp: {decvax,watmath,rutgers,...}!sunybcs!ugfeldmn / .  . \
"Just remember, there's a big difference between kneeling down and   (   \  )