-- more on -- What message are we sending?

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

My comment is Parson broke the law; knew he broke it and knew if caught he 
would get notoriety and punishment . Lets not start blaming IT managers and 
society for not defending themselves against people like him. They should 
of as we should have defended our nation against 9-11 but we did not and 
they do not.

I have less of a problem with house detention than the original author but 
strongly believe the book should get thrown at him unless there are mental 
problems. I , for one, am getting tired of seeing the net attacked for fun.

Dave


> Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 04:21:54 -0500
> From: Mike Skallas <user245 () hotmail com>
> To: dave () farber net
>
>
> Dave,
>
> This piece you posted is sorely lacking in facts and insight.  The accused
> has only been charged with writing a variant of the blaster virus; he is not
> its original author
>
> Fact: These crimes are punishable up to 10 years in prison. That is serious
> time for anyone. Fact: Many humanitarian groups consider solitary
> confinement inhumane. Fact: Kevin Mitnick, a hacker and common thief, is a
> hero to many of these kids.  By pulling another heavy-handed Mitnick-like
> stunt the government could be paving the way to more cyber-attacks in the
> form of angry vigilantes who see the system as broken.
>
> Also, it is a waste of the taxpayer's money to treat a non-violent criminal
> just like a violent one.  Not to mention the defense attorney will use the
> "abuse by the system" argument to win sympathy points with a jury if Parson
> is treated unfairly or treated illegally.
>
> The U.S. Attorney did the proper thing in treating this crime as it should
> be.  By respecting due process and not giving in to hotheads like this IT
> manager everyone's rights are protected and a fair trial can be had.
>
> The question I have for this mysterious IT manager is: why was his network
> unprepared?  At all of my client sites we filtered out the MSblaster and
> Sobig menaces through a variety of methods that were actually very
> inexpensive because we already bought equipment and software flexible enough
> to handle these types of attacks.  It should be assumed that any WAN
> connection is hostile.
>
> Blaming Parson because one is incompetent at IT is ridiculous and using the
> "what message are we sending" rhetoric to appeal to emotion is shameless
> hate mongering and should not be tolerated in a liberal democracy that
> protects the rights of the individual.  I think this post is below the
> standards of your otherwise fine IP list.  I'd much rather read about
> long-term solutions to the problems of insecure computing in the residential
> markets, business taking net security seriously, etc.  The assumption that
> "roughing up" one 18-year old will make a difference is simply false.
> Netizens need real long term solutions not simple harsh sentencing or
> "legislating from the bench" because of public pressure if they truly want
> to make it past the growing pains of the early stages of the information
> age.
>
> Michael Skallas
> http://everythingisnt.com

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