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Blaster Variant Creator Pleads Guilty
Hello Kitty writes "Robert Parson, the 18-year-old who modified and re-released a version of Blaster last year, is on his way to being made an example of, after pleading guilty Wednesday in a Seattle courtroom. According to AP, he can now look forward to 18-36 months behind bars and -- shades of Kevin Mitnick's phantom damages -- may be expected to pay millions in restitution. And then there's that lifelong 5cr1pt k1dd13 title. of course."
(Hint to foolish wannabe kiddiez: stick to posting 'me toooo!!!!111' on the warez channel du jour. They won't send your sorry ass to prison for that.)
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
A smarter system would have this kid be a digital janitor for a year or so. Disinfect this computer, now disinfect that one. You know, like an intern, and maybe he could get a job out of it when he's done.
More productive than license plates, and more likely to pay society back.
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
He pled guilty, so he's guilty. good. send him to jail. I've got no problem with that.
But as for the millions, who actually get's the money?
an IT profesionals JOB is to deal with problems, much like blaster caused (and still ocasionally does).
What other costs do these companies incur, as a result of a worm/virus?
Do these companies want money to pay the wages of these tech's?
if the worm did it's job through the use of an OS exploit, why isn't the OS creator picking up part of the bill?
legal fee's I can ken, but the rest doesn't quite make sense to Me...
There's a balance somewhere inbetween these two statements. It will always be illegal to unleash a virus, just as it will always be illegal to murder. However, just as civil suits can and do win against negligent manufacturers of equipment for failing to include adequate and reasonable safety measures, so should civil class-action suits win against makers of software who haven't done their due diligence on the security side of things. I'm not a fan of punitive damages against the manufacturer, but I think cost-of-purchase would be in order, covering the product bought (or the whole cost of any bundle containing the product). IOW, consumers should be able to sue Eudora for the cost of their mail client if they get penetrated and virused through it, and should be able to sue M$ for the entire cost of Windows since Outlook Express was a bundled component. (And again, not just because there was a bug - those are inevitable - but as a class action suit alleging that they were completely negligent in the area of security as evidence by the pattern of recurrent successful attacks on their software).
11*43+456^2
I'm sorry, but how did he not cause damages with a virus which disrupted work and forced companies to disinfect their machines?
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
Saying that this guy wrote a virus is like me changing the names in The Lord of the Rings and calling myself an author....
That's one way to look at it.
One could also argue that this kid modified and released a piece of software that he knew for a fact would run rampant and infect countless systems worldwide. He'd already seen it in action, and he knew exactly what it did to an infected system. He can't even run the Morris defense of 'it was released accidentally and I had no idea it would be this bad'.
This punk got his hands on a very nasty computer virus, made changes to it, and released it back into the wild knowing fully well what he was doing and would happen as a result of his actions. That it was a mind-numbingly simple change doesn't make his actions any less malicious or criminal. Throw the book at him.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
or perhaps he did know it was wrong (why else write a "keewell" virus from an old virus?) Like he didn't know it would fuck things up - you sir, are lost if you think an 18 yr. old that knows how to code (sorta) and re-used known virus code to make another virus, is "lacking the moral logic to recognize what he was doing is wrong". Complete bollocks.
He knew what he was doing was wrong. Knew it would break shit. Did it anyway. Could have been one of those "got out of hand" things though. Fine, but it was wrong and he knew it. If you know enough to mess with viruses, you know enough to know that it's wrong to just release them in the wild and you should garner enough knowledge to hide it if you are stupid enough to release it.
In the "real world" as you call it, people know their shit. Marie Curie didn't know radioactive material would kill her, but the Manhattan Project *knew* that it did (and how to control it's reactions), and didn't blow themselves up on accident...they blew shit up on purpose. And now we have the penalty of nuclear proliferation. And the good side (before you jump the gun...again)? We have loads of great tech (cancer therapy, etc.) from her (and the MP) work....but it's for the good, much like many computers are safer for knowing this danger is out there by being patched. (yes, many are not....that is not the argument here).
Something else to add: when one starts programming and discovers fork(), one *knows* what it does and uses it carefully. If one wants to know just how dangerous it is (or wants to test its danger...much like our little friend, the virus coder might have "just been curious")...one codes in a protected environment....period. If he was really that curious and innocent, he'd have done it on a closed network for testing and learning. If you know enough to know something is dangerous and want to test, you take precautions...or you fuck up and pay the price. The "complexities...in the real world" don't give a good goddamn what your intentions are.
but he didn't did he, he showed no compassion for his victims so why should we show him? He wanted to play with the big boys, cause discomfort to countless people, be the though guy. Well now he can be though in jail. Something tells me he is going to be crying for his mommy.
I don't agree with many things american but the saying "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime" I can get behind. This guy was no victim of society. He was not a poor man stealing bread for his family. He was nothing more then a little punk who went around smashing peoples car, a thief stealing every bike around because he is to lazy to walk, a parasite.
Sure he was an idiot but an idiot who deliberatly set out to cause other people harm. What do you suggest we do? Give him a 50 dollar penalty? Slap on the wrist? Then he will be boasting in seconds on the net on how the pigs couldn't touch him and his leet hacking skills brought down the net.
No let him rot for a couple of months. I doubt it will send a message to other script kiddies but there is always the element of revenge. Ghandi may have a thing or two to say about revenge but Ghandi also left a country wich now has been at war for 50 yrs with itself and its neighbour. (tamils and pakistan)
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