http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2914622,00.html
Article claiming that those who assist in the propagation of viruses and worms are being penalized too harshly by the criminal justice system. I have already made my predelictions towards physical mutilation without anaesthesia as the proper remedy, so it should come as no surprise that I disagree vociferously with the author.
Virus and worm release represents a form of "one-to-many" crime, just as, for example, does a Ponzi scam. The individual loss in any case may not amount to much, but collectively the loss is enormous. It is exactly this loss which should be penalized [along with, of course, the loss of public trust which results], and harsh penalties are certainly supportable. The fact that some other people have been treated more leniently is, to my view, unfortunate, but it is no justification to treal all malware offenders that way.
Of course, given that I am a vengeful SOB, this opinion should not be all that surprising.
Posted by jho at September 10, 2003 11:18 AM