| ??? 02/17/08 00:20 Read: times |
#150944 - A greater harm Responding to: ???'s previous message |
Richard Erlacher said:
I agree with you, in that I would allow and even encourage such discussion, but wouldn't encourage it in a public forum, as the probability of doing good is small, while the risk of doing harm is large. Would you rather it be discussed in a nonpublic, secret forum? To which only the powerful and privileged would have access? That way lies tyranny. One of the side effects of freedom is that you have to accept some risks. I opt for freedom instead of being a "safe" captive. We are currently encumbered by an administration that thinks it has the right to spy on citizens and destroy the Constitution in order to "protect" us from "terrorists". Same argument used by demagogues and tyrants throughout history. Same tune, different lyrics. I don't buy it. The black hats already know more about how to steal code than you and I put together. And any script kiddie who wants access to that information knows where to find it. Refusing to allow discussion of the subject on a forum such as this is the logical and moral equivalent of hiding one's head in the sand. The courts here in the U.S. have already established that selling guns to known criminals is not, in itself, a crime, despite the fact that it's against the law to sell to known felons, the difference being that the criminals who aren't yet known felons simply haven't been convicted yet. So Sears should stop selling crowbars because they can be used as burglary tools? The sad fact that there are many who'd like to break into our houses for various reasons does not suggest in any way that we, in this forum, should help them, No, we should help others to protect themselves from such people, while keeping in mind that crowbars do have legitimate uses. Encouraging people to attack protected devices for the purpose of gaining unwelcome access to them, however, is not what I think should be encouraged in this forum. Whoa! What did anyone say in this thread that could be construed as encouraging such people? I seem to have gotten the opposite impression. I think the knowledgeable people here can recognize when an amateur script kiddie posts a question that is intended to help him break into somewhere he shouldn't be (the professionals won't post here), and will tell him to take a hike. |
