Yes, writing a virus and releasing it into the wild, is a bad, bad thing. Bad boy Davy, go stand in the corner and don't ever do it again...
But does he really deserve this level of persecution? I don't think so. The man has been set upon by rabid dogs, half of them ignorant of the technology involved, and the reset trained by the Federal government to be heavy-handed and vicious. Security and conformity enforcement through intimidation works. Da Comrade!
The effect of what he did, intentions aside, is not far removed from from the Morris Worm. Yes, Morris was prosecuted and punished, but even the government admits that it was a curiosity that ran away from a controlled environment. It's not like this guy (Smith) is Geoffrey freakin Dahmer. He's a geek, who for one reason or another, wrote an annoying bug. Sure, it touched many computers, but what DAMAGE did it really do?? It got a lot of IT people money for systems improvements, it gave many anti-virus softwares welcome exposure. It was a boon, and it got attention. Who got hurt?
Dave Smith. He will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, by an ignorant, ham-handed mechanism that's been eager to sink it's teeth into a non-celebrity, just to show that you can't fight city hall, even with a computer.
"Oooohh!!! Scary computer people will launch nuclear missles with a virus!" IMHO that bespeaks badly of the federal and military security, not the crackers who are being compared to the John Gacy's of the Internet.
As for those here who claim that M$ should bear some of the burden for this Melissa fiasco, just because their cheesy software was used to make it happen.. BOLLOCKS! If I go and shoot somone, who in their right mind would blame Smith and Wesson?? What a brilliant defense for Dahmer that would have been: "Your honor, it wasn't really all MY fault, if Ginsu didn't make such sharp knives I would have never been able to eat that Thai boy."
Dave Smith - CyberMartyr (Score:2)
But does he really deserve this level of persecution? I don't think so. The man has been set upon by rabid dogs, half of them ignorant of the technology involved, and the reset trained by the Federal government to be heavy-handed and vicious. Security and conformity enforcement through intimidation works. Da Comrade!
The effect of what he did, intentions aside, is not far removed from from the Morris Worm. Yes, Morris was prosecuted and punished, but even the government admits that it was a curiosity that ran away from a controlled environment. It's not like this guy (Smith) is Geoffrey freakin Dahmer. He's a geek, who for one reason or another, wrote an annoying bug. Sure, it touched many computers, but what DAMAGE did it really do?? It got a lot of IT people money for systems improvements, it gave many anti-virus softwares welcome exposure. It was a boon, and it got attention. Who got hurt?
Dave Smith. He will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, by an ignorant, ham-handed mechanism that's been eager to sink it's teeth into a non-celebrity, just to show that you can't fight city hall, even with a computer.
"Oooohh!!! Scary computer people will launch nuclear missles with a virus!" IMHO that bespeaks badly of the federal and military security, not the crackers who are being compared to the John Gacy's of the Internet.
As for those here who claim that M$ should bear some of the burden for this Melissa fiasco, just because their cheesy software was used to make it happen.. BOLLOCKS! If I go and shoot somone, who in their right mind would blame Smith and Wesson?? What a brilliant defense for Dahmer that would have been: "Your honor, it wasn't really all MY fault, if Ginsu didn't make such sharp knives I would have never been able to eat that Thai boy."
Feh!