Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!nrl-cmf!cmcl2!polyof!kepler1!rjfrey
From: rjfrey@kepler1.UUCP (Robert J Frey)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: CALL FOR VOTES:  DID HE DO US A SER
Message-ID: <15@kepler1.UUCP>
Date: 17 Nov 88 19:58:08 GMT
References: <1330@stiatl.UUCP> <79700016@p.cs.uiuc.edu> <1564@stiatl.UUCP>
Reply-To: rjfrey@kepler1.UUCP (Robert J Frey)
Distribution: na
Organization: Kepler Financial Mgmt, Setauket, NY
Lines: 47

In article <1564@stiatl.UUCP> john@stiatl.UUCP (John DeArmond) writes:
>...lets face it.. About the worst thing Morris could have done if he'd been 
>of a mind would have been to clean off every file system on the Arpanet.
>Big Deal!!!...
>
>In reality, Morris wasted a few hours of each of a few dozen to perhaps
>a hundred people.  *WOW*  ...

Now, I don't favor stringing up Morris by his thumbs, neither do I believe
one can realistically equate the release of the Internet worm with the
release of a potentially deadly biological agent; however, I can't join
the camp of the Morris apologists either.  First of all, if I fail to lock
my front door and am burgled, that may very well mean I'm careless, but it
doesn't mean the burgler is any less guilty of a crime. And I certainly 
wouldn't pat the burgler on the back for letting me know how important locked
doors are! Even if there are some positive results which are incidental to
the worm attack, they in no way whatsoever serve to mitigate Morris's guilt
or limit his liability for any damages.

As far as the true cost of the worm, I think you grossly underestimate the
damages, both actual and potential.  Here your comments about the amount
of time wasted on the net anyway are totally irrelevant.  I am entitled to
waste my own time. YOU are not entitled to do it for me. Nor is the fact
that lots of other people are doing bad things serve as a defence for me
to do them too. Also, I think you don't understand that computers are a 
mature technology that's used to real work in our society.  I don't know
what all of the 6,000 systems disrupted were doing, and I don't think
you do either, but the consequential damages from such a disruption are
potentially enormous.

The actual damages were not a few hundred hours, it was more like tens of
thousands of hours. Not to mention the emotional turmoil and stress.

What "should" happen to Morris?  I think he should be prosecuted, though
we should duly note that he wasn't deliberately trying to hurt anyone. He
should also be held liable for the damages both direct and consequential
that his handiwork caused. I also believe that should his assets prove
to be insufficient to cover those claims Cornell should be liable to the
extent that their own negligence contributed to those damages.

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|Dr. Robert J. Frey               | {icus, spl1, dasys1}!acsm!kepler1!rjfrey |
|Kepler Financial Management, Ltd.|------------------------------------------|
|100 North Country Rd., Bldg. B   | The views expressed are wholly my own and|
|Setauket, NY  11766              | and do not reflect those of the Indepen- |
|(516) 689-6300 x.16              | dent Republic of Latvia.                 |
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