Thank you Franklin, for clarifying many things. Language is indeed a big issue for non-indo-europeans. Basically, anyone that uses a non-romance script (cyrillic, chinese, hiragana/katakana, arabic, cuniform, etc). The problem is that most folks don't realize that this goes both ways. We all face the same barriers in the other direction. Information gets distorted both ways. Add to this, the normal human tendency to speculate [negatively] in the absence of data and there is a huge potential for misunderstandings and myth-creation. The real problem is that we have to tame/banish these crackers on all sides. Hardening our own systems is not enough. We have to banish the vandals as well. Destroying someone else's property/hard work, simply because the opportunity presents itself, is/should be considered highly unacceptable/uncivilized behavior and punished accordingly, by every civilized person. -- ROELAND M.J. MEYER Managing Director Morgan Hill Software Company, Inc. TEL: +001 925 373 3954 FAX: +001 925 373 9781 http://www.mhsc.com mailto: rmeyer@mhsc.com

From: Franklin Lian [mailto:Franklin.Lian@globalone.net] Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2001 9:28 AM

I found a myth on this list that hacking a computer system is a death sentence. I really don't know where and when this mythin is spreading on the Internet.

I guess the myth came from a case that a hacker was executed, maybe two years ago, and he was the first hacker sent on trial. I read that news couple of years ago both in English and Chinese. The hacker actually was executed for stealing millions of dollars from a bank he used work for, NOT for HACKING. According to Chinese law, any criminal commited to crime that evolves more than $100,000 (the exact number might be wrong) can be sentenced to death.

However, nobody noticed the crime behind of hacking but only hacking itself.