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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 Gazis 

Wrong.  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
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