[IP] more on well worth reading djf Computer network security: "Symbiot on the Rules of Engagement"
Delivered-To: dfarber+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 12:38:37 -0500
From: L Jean Camp <jean_camp@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [IP] well worth reading djf Computer network security:
"Symbiot on the Rules of Engagement"
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: andyo@xxxxxxxxxxx
Increasing the risk of that group of people least able to manage risk is
not now and never has been effective policy. However, it has been known to
provide strong validating emotional public responses.
Symbiot: There is always the possibility of collateral damage.
I believe that this is the first time US citizens have been referred to as
"collateral damage". I never liked the phrase, and I like it less now that
is applies to my mom.
Yet this phrase is as illustrative as it is unattractive. In fact,
blackmail is the apparent Symbiot business model. If you are not a Symbiot
user and are successfully subverted by an attacker, then the collected
Symbiot users will attack you en masse, purposefully causing additional
harm to your already damaged network. I presume the only certain way to
forever stay off their "risk" list is to pay for their services. Otherwise
someone would point two symbiots at each other, and watch their risk
numbers rise. This does not sound like a posse, this sounds like the mob.
He notes that they have a database of "intent". This is either personal
fantasy or known lie. How do they determine the intent of a machine?
How do they distinguish between an untrustworthy machine and a machine
owned by an attacker? How do they distinguish a thief from a sociopath?
Up to this point, home users can see their machines subverted because of
bugs in code that they have paid for, not be notified of the problem by the
ISP which the customer also pays, and be at the mercy of a technically
empowered hacker. Now such users will be subject to the Symbiot response.
He declares that such a user is no longer innocent.
Indeed, I was unaware that a corporation had the right to declare guilt and
innocence across jurisdictions. This is at best a rather new development in
international law, not standard operating procedure as he implies.
I sincerely hope that the first legitimate American business or person hit
by Symbiot institutes a RICO action. Symbiot is instituting a pattern of
criminal behavior directed against those individuals who have proven their
inability to protect themselves under the current market configuration.
Here is a radical alternative - ISPs and software vendors take
responsibility for the harm and vulnerabilities of end users and be
required as part of business services to assist users in identification and
response to the subversions of home machines.
-Jean
-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To manage your subscription, go to
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/