[65405] in North American Network Operators' Group
RE: Anit-Virus help for all of us??????
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Vivien M.)
Tue Nov 25 12:37:26 2003
From: "Vivien M." <vivienm@dyndns.org>
To: "'Ryan Dobrynski'" <ryan@viaccess.net>, <nanog@merit.edu>
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 12:36:44 -0500
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSO.4.44.0311251252310.2101-100000@sarah.viaccess.net>
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu] On=20
> Behalf Of Ryan Dobrynski
> Sent: November 25, 2003 12:21 PM
> To: nanog@merit.edu
> Subject: Re: Anit-Virus help for all of us??????
>=20
> like everyone else, I don't have the answer. Just another way=20
> of looking at it. I have learned however that trying to fix a=20
> behavioral problem with technology generally doesn't work.=20
> Untill "the users" in general get a little smarter about=20
> thier new toy, things won't get much better.
No, the solution seems to me to increase the liability involved. If a =
couple
of people who neglected to take care of their computers got hauled into
court and made to pay a fine and/or spend a few weeks in a jail cell, =
and if
the mainstream media got to watch (and didn't take a "those poor people"
stance that makes the whole initiative look bad), things would change.
Fact is, if I don't properly maintain my brakes on my car and I crash =
into
something/someone, there will be legal consequences enforced with the =
full
coercive power of the government. If I don't properly maintain my =
computer
and as a result, it harms someone else (eg: by allowing others to use it =
for
DDoSing that other person's network), there should also be serious legal
consequences. And just like saying "Oh, I didn't know brakes weren't
supposed to last for 150000km" wouldn't be an acceptable excuse for my
poorly-maintained car harming others, neither should "I didn't know that
computers needed security regular updates" be an excuse for me to have a
virus/trojan/etc-infected computer that harms others.
Yes, this is a political solution, but this is a political and social =
(and
economic, to a lesser extent) problem, not a technological one. When
technology has the potential to cause harm, it (except for computer
technology) is regulated to limit the amount of harm that is done.
Vivien
--=20
Vivien M.
vivienm@dyndns.org
Assistant System Administrator
Dynamic DNS Network Services
http://www.dyndns.org/=20
