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University Of Calgary To Offer Course On Spam
jrcsnet writes "CBC is reporting that the University of Calgary is going to be adding yet another controversial course (The first, on computer viruses, was covered on Slashdot a while back). According to the article, 'Students will be taught how to write programs that create e-mail spam as well as spy software.' While there must be some benefit for everyone else by creating programs to work against these nuisances, is it worth the risk to the rest of us or even to the potential careers of the graduates of the course?"
is it worth the risk ... to the potential careers of the graduates of the course?
They're the ones who choose to take the course.
Don't blame me -- I voted for Roslin.
Aycock acknowledges there is a potential for viruses and other malicious software to spread outside the classroom.
He says that's why there are precautions, such as security cameras and a ban on all outside electronic equipment in the classroom.
Each student signs a legal form that says a breach of the security means an automatic "F" and a potential criminal investigation.
I guess they think that there is a high risk that a person will intentionally wreak havoc with the knowledge he learns in that class. Then again, this might just be a publicity thing for the class. I doubt that it's more dangerous than a class on computer security and virus/malware prevention in terms of the risk of damage being done.
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Wired article as proof
Actually, it's CPSC 599.63. Here's the instructor's web site.
Who is this "they" you're talking about that's outlawing things?
FYI : Calgary is in Canada.
The University of Calgary was the first to standarize a library of text files to test compression programs. It's known as the Calgary Corpus.
Given this, I'd say that Calgary always keeps ahead of other universities in innovation. And certainly we want virus and spam writers on OUR SIDE. i.e. College graduates (versus socially-inadapted anarchists and script-kiddies). Who knows if one of these guys will later make the ultimate anti-spam tool? Remember that the Reed College graduate, Peter Norton, became so famous for his Antivirus tool.
You know, I was raised in Manitoba/Ontatio, and for all of my life I've been hearing the stereotype perpetuated by the parent. I just moved here (Calgary) a few months back, and I have to tell you, this province is anything but. Maybe it's the hippie influence from BC, maybe it's just that most Canadians don't really travel anywhere, and get 99% of their information from the Toronto-centric CBC.
If this province is right-wing, well at least they've done right-wing "right" (ie: correctly). The taxes here are lower than almost anywhere, people are in general more prosperous than anywhere I've ever been, we have an incredible public transportation system, some of the best roads in the country, an AMAZING parks system, some of the cleanest air I've ever breathed, North America's largest urban park (and mostly natural, too, although in this neck of the woods that basically means prarie grass), an incredibly healthy and athletic population, one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country...
By and large, the government seems to want to keep out of people's lives (contrast this with the "right" down south these days). About the only thing, and I admit it really pisses me off, is the provincial government's opposition to gay marriage.
I also work for one of the big oil companies out here, and from what I've seen, things are a hell of a lot different than they were in the past. I got to go on a field tour of our seismic lines recently (natural gas exploration), and was completely blown away as to the steps taken NOT to destroy the environment. It's really amazing - the people marching through the bush running wires etc are trained to bend tree branches out of their way, as opposed to breaking them off. Zero-impact indeed.
In short, for those that don't live here, don't listen to what you're told. Alberta is pretty much the polar opposite of what you hear on TV. Well, we do have the Stampede still, and some people wear cowboy hats during it. Whoopdee do.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
One must study viruses, how they work, and how they are written, in order to work on antiviruses. One must study spam, including how to do it, in order to work on ways to combat it. I don't understand how some people here seriously think this will lead these kids directly into the "dark side" once they graduate. They sound just like the idiots who were totally against sex education in school. Education is the best way to combat many things. Sure, maybe one student among many will dream up a new, more malicious, spam/virus technique with help from these courses. But don't we all say "security through obscurity is pointless"?
Loban Amaan Rahman ==> Anagram of ==> Aha! An Abnormal Man!
Where are you getting this idea that socialists think information is dangerous? Isn't it you capitalist yanks that are enthusiastically taking away people's basic civil rights and trying to find ways to make "unwanted" information criminal?
Labelling someone a socialist and attacking them on that level doesn't work as well as it used to.
I think, therefore I am an Atheist.
Maybe it will start them thinking about a better protocol than SMTP?
They can investigate the history of SMTP, its assumptions w.r.t. mutual trust, where that went wrong, and how a new protocol should be designed so that it is not so easy anymore to hide the origin of mail.