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[IP] Just Say No to Viruses and Worms



I will, in the interests of family values not state my opinion of Schwartz's idea. djf


Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 11:17:09 -0400
From: Claudio Gutiérrez <gutierrezclaudio@xxxxxxxx>
Subject: Just Say No to Viruses and Worms
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx

Members of the computing industry and law enforcement testified before the
technology subcommittee of the House Committee on Government Reform Wednesday
about how to protect the nation's computing systems from viruses and worms.

<snip>

Among the solutions proposed were better standards for producing secure
software, computing ethics education directed at children, increased funding and
training for computer forensics to catch hackers and virus writers, and
protocols for information sharing that would aid in capturing perpetrators
across borders.

But perhaps the most controversial suggestion came from John Schwarz, president
and COO of antivirus firm Symantec, who called for legislation to criminalize
the sharing of information and tools online that can be used by malicious
hackers and virus writers.

Virus writers and hackers often learn from each other and share automated tools
and code on websites. By making it illegal to post malicious code and
information, Schwarz implied, the number of attacks would be reduced. He did not
say, though, how legislators would determine the difference between malicious
information and that used for legitimate security research, or whether such a
law might compromise freedom of speech.

http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,60391,00.html

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