-----Original Message----- From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu] On Behalf Of Ryan Dobrynski Sent: November 25, 2003 12:21 PM To: nanog@merit.edu Subject: Re: Anit-Virus help for all of us??????
like everyone else, I don't have the answer. Just another way of looking at it. I have learned however that trying to fix a behavioral problem with technology generally doesn't work. Untill "the users" in general get a little smarter about 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 -- Vivien M. vivienm@dyndns.org Assistant System Administrator Dynamic DNS Network Services http://www.dyndns.org/