Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!vaxine!wjh12!genrad!decvax!mcnc!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!hplabs!sri-unix!SAPPHO@SRI-NIC.ARPA From: SAPPHO@SRI-NIC.ARPA Newsgroups: net.micro Subject: Re: More laws are not the way to fix fraud Message-ID: <854@sri-arpa.UUCP> Date: Wed, 13-Jun-84 23:55:10 EDT Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.854 Posted: Wed Jun 13 23:55:10 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 19-Jun-84 01:23:12 EDT Lines: 34 From: Lynn GazisWrong. If someone breaks into your security, you should certainly fix the holes in it, but to refrain from charging the person with a crime because you were careless is ridiculous. In the first place, I find this viewpoint morally obnoxious. Carrying the principle behind this argument to its logical conclusion seems to lead to the conclusion that one shouldn't prosecute murderers as long as their victims were careless enough to put themselves in a position where they were vulnerable. In the second place, reporting the crime to the police seems to me to be useful. If the person is caught, then at least one phone phreak is likely to do less phreaking, and if the probability of getting punished is high enough, it will deter other people. I don't buy your argument that increased security is the real solution. I think one can pursue both of those solutions at once. It's not as if they interfere with each other. In the third place, as people pointed out in the piracy discussion, methods adopted by companies to increase security are part of the problem caused by fraud. I am tired of stores where I am asked to leave my backpack in front where it is more likely to be stolen because some twits felt like shoplifting. I am dismayed to see software protected so that people can't make backups because some twits felt like pirating it. Let people increase their security as much as they have to out of self interest. But I had rather punish criminals than law-abiding citizens, so I think that laws should be used for all they are worth. Lynn Gazis -------