Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!steinmetz!ge-dab!peora!joel
From: joel@peora.ccur.com (Joel Upchurch)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Possible Fines for Virus Perpetrator
Keywords: Morris, virus, internet
Message-ID: <3728@peora.ccur.com>
Date: 16 Nov 88 15:51:38 GMT
References: <456@l5comp.UUCP> <440@occrsh.ATT.COM> <312@pte.UUCP> <362@marob.MASA.COM>
Distribution: na
Organization: Concurrent Computer Corp, Orlando FL
Lines: 40

One point I think that hasn't been made is that from all the material
I've seen so far it wasn't Morris' intent to bring the Internet to
it's knees, it was an bug in his program that caused it.  The program
appears to have been designed to QUIETLY penetrate each system and
report the information back to Morris.  We really don't know what
Morris intended to do with this information.

A good analogy might be of someone entering my home when I'm not
there.  Let's say he tries all the windows and doors and discovered
that I forgot to lock one or that the lock doesn't work very well.  He
is then caught by the police while he is in my house.  Now he hasn't
threatened my physical safety (I wasn't home remember?), and the
police caught him before he did anything, so I don't KNOW he intended
to rob me or whatever.  His acts have pointed out to me that I may
need to more careful about the security of my home, so in some sense
he has done me a service.  However this doesn't mean that I should
shake his hand and thank him, rather than try to get him thrown in
jail for criminal trespass or breaking and entering or whatever else I
can make stick.

In many cases that data we keep on our computers is as valuable or
more so than anything physical objects we keep in our homes.  Even if
the data has no monetary value there are privacy issues at stake.
Should someone be able to read my private letters because I forgot to
lock my desk?  Are these people any less criminals because their tools
are modems and compilers rather than lockpicks and prybars?  Should we
ignore these acts because they are committed by well-educated middle
class people from unbroken homes rather than ghetto illiterates?  Of
course this raises the more general issue of the way white collar
crime is treated in our society.  What will we do when someone commits
a murder by altering hospital patient records in their computer?

It seems to me that what we faced with is that our technology is
changing rapidly and that our ethical standards aren't keeping up.
Our new technologies are creating new areas of criminal and
anti-social behavior and it going to take awhile before most people
realize that these kinds of actions are, in fact, criminal.
-- 
Joel Upchurch/Concurrent Computer Corp/2486 Sand Lake Rd/Orlando, FL 32809
joel@peora.ccur.com {uiucuxc,hoptoad,petsd,ucf-cs}!peora!joel (407)850-1040