In deebs <
[email protected]> had this to say:
My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Isn't it absolutely awful that some individuals and/or organisations
seek to make a mess of what would otherwise be a great operating
system?
Can't they (the code writers I mean) be done for interfering with
licensed use, denial of service attack or the like?
*chuckles* Now I am pretty sure you - of all the people here - KNOW how to
access the forum at the site. Not the Gallery but the forum itself. You're
just trying to get me to go on a rant of digression here in the newsgroups
aren't you? <g>
But, anyhow, yes depending on jurisdiction and proof I suppose there's some
potential for legal repercussions to be had. Unfortunately the lack of laws
that are universal and agreements between various country/states pretty much
ensures that an authoratative attack on malware propagation and authors is
not likely to occure in the near future. In some cases, and this one hasn't
been decided, you see things like the Sony/BMG rootkit being hit with a
class action suit but they are also accountable in the USA as retailers and
as having offices here. (See, also, Italy which is the only other country I
know of where police have been asked to investigate.)
By the same token much of what is defined as malware is subjective. I'm not
being unobjective in this posting but you should be aware that I'm one of
the few (or at least one of the last) *NIX to Microsoft Windows converts on
the planet other than those that made the switch as nessesary way back in
the very early days. However... Have you seen Apple being sued for including
a web browser? Have you seen Linux distrobutions being taken to court by the
EU for including a media player? Better yet, have you installed QuickTime
lately and then tried to revert to an alternate media player as the default?
Are they being sued? So, lawsuits are subjective as is the "Just Us"
department, at least in my country. Malware, by most any definition, is
something doing something you didn't want nor ask for to your system. I
leave it at malware because there's too much opinion that varies as to what
is spyware and what is a trojan for example. I'm also a firm believer that
adware - WITHOUT taking personal information or at least CLEARLY disclosing
the privacy policy - is wrong but I think that the ad supported model as a
business matrix is viable AND ethical practice. Example being Google who
uses ads for revenue, they clearly disclose it and as such are not
considered in my opinion bad. (Check the duration on their cookies and you
might start to see why I've tended to pick on their business practices and
their slogan in the past.) Truth is that I strongly suspect they're
collecting massive amounts of data and I do hope that they continue to not
diseminate that data without permission of the end user.
So, where was I? See? You're getting your rant... Deebs' asks and Deebs'
gets...
Let's go one step further, and this is NOT an intentional slight towards the
original poster, and ask how much of the blame lies on the end-user? If you
drive an unsafe automobile on a public highway (or one not insured) and are
crashed into then you're still going to be held at least partially to blame.
Let me fantasize a bit...
Let's use the UL listings - they are pretty good about this sort of thing...
If you bought a product with the underwriters labratory listing on it and
that product failed to meet it's expectations as listed and caused harm to
the user then the product would be removed. But if you'd used it not in
accordance with the manufacturer's warnings then not even the insurance
company would validate your claim. Say, for instance, if you bought a wood
stove and it was UL listed and then installed it properly and followed all
of the safety precautions and your home burned to the ground due to the
stove. Well... The UL would rip that, for a single instance, off the list
and parlay for a recall on behalf of the consumer. However if you didn't
follow those safety measures you'd be finding that not even your insurance
company would be there for you... So, really, how much of the blame ends up
on the end-user who didn't take the time to install and configure the best
security practices/applications? How much blame goes to the end-user who
didn't protect their asset, didn't educate themselves as to the potential
security problems, and didn't take the time to learn how PCs work?
Before you say I'm blaming the victim who do you (the law, anyone really)
blame when you drive a vehicle too fast and crash? Is it the fault of the
vehicle for allowing you to go to fast? The brakes for not allowing you to
stop instantly? Or the driver for not driving at a responsible speed? What
we have here is the INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY and inexperienced people
without licenses driving all over it and making the road a more dangerous
place for all of us. So, there's the problem from a realistic view...
However don't get me wrong. Anyone that intentionally damages another
persons property or takes anything from another person without right to do
so is a criminal. I could draw some political connections but those would
make people think I was a right wing republican or something and I shudder
to think of that. We live in a real world, one where there's people who
intend to harm you. The blame is always the perpetrator of the offense but
in many instances education, awareness, and proper protection could have
prevented the crime. In a work-place environment they claim "all accidents
can be prevented." It is my opinion and experience that with the practicing
of best practices (safe hex) and an awareness of the dangers that the same
basic ideology is true with the internet and computers.
Anyhow, there's your rant... <g> More on that in the future on the site
probably? I'd say mid-January there's a guide due up if not then we're
hoping for the end-January update. You could have, you know, just whacked
this out at the forum? Now you've made all these poor newsgroup readers read
it as I never respond to email specifically unless requested.
--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of
existence." - Sherlock Holmes
