On Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:06:53 -0500 Valdis.Kletnieks@xxxxxx wrote: > On Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:16:19 EST, Benjamin Kreuter said: > > > Really, calling it "breaking in" is a stretch. You connected a > > computer to a publicly accessible computer network, where anyone can > > send anything to your computer. If hacking such a system is > > "breaking in," you might as well claim that shouting across your > > neighbor's yard is "breaking in." > > Bad analogy. Closer would be if you have a house that's got a > driveway on a public street, and you claim it's not breaking and > entering if you walk up the driveway, try the doorknob, find it > unlocked, and let yourself in without the permission of the > residents. Saying that "anybody could walk up and let themselves in > the door" doesn't make it legal. Would you say that we should arrest the person who walks into the house, takes a picture of themselves standing next to an expensive television and leaves the picture next to a note that says "your door was unlocked?" Really though, it is still a terrible analogy. You can disconnect a computer from the Internet; you cannot disconnect a building from a street. A hacker in a foreign country might be attacking your computer system from that country, and could be outside the jurisdiction of any relevant law enforcement agency; a person who breaks into a building is committing a crime in whatever jurisdiction the building is in. Analogies are nice and they help non-technical folks understand what is going on, but let's not get carried away with them. Someone who attacks a computer system over the Internet (or any other network) is sending unwanted/malicious messages. This is not the same as physically breaking into a building, locker, or computer. It may be illegal, but it is still very different from other crimes. If anything, the closest type of criminal would be a con man, which seems fitting given how many of today's attacks have an element of social engineering. -- Ben -- Benjamin R Kreuter UVA Computer Science brk7bx@xxxxxxxxxxxx -- "If large numbers of people are interested in freedom of speech, there will be freedom of speech, even if the law forbids it; if public opinion is sluggish, inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if laws exist to protect them." - George Orwell
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