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Crime Expert Backs Call For "License To Compute"

The Cable Guy writes to mention that Russel Smith, one of Australia's principal criminologists, is pushing for first-time computer users to be required to earn a license to browse the web. "The Australian Computer Society launched computer driver's licenses in 1999. It aimed to give users a basic level of competency before they started using PCs. But the growth in cybercrime has led to IT security experts such as Eugene Kaspersky to call for more formalized recognition of a user's identity so they can travel the net safely. Last week Dr. Smith sat in front of a Federal Government Inquiry into cybercrime and advised Australia's senior politicians on initiatives in train to fight cybercrime. He said that education was secondary to better technology solutions."

2 of 327 comments (clear)

  1. Re:WTF? by Steve+Franklin · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think the analogy you are missing is the one that involves having a license to read. After all, it's a lot more efficient that burning books. Just give everyone a test for proper thinking before you give them a license to use this "dangerous" medium. You think Kennedy was killed by someone other than J Edgar Hoover's man in the CIA? You think WTC 7 looks suspiciously like a controlled demolition? No reading for you, sonny.

    --
    Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam rexque futurus.
  2. Re:Old Joke by Dan541 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What's next, a license for sex?

    We used to, it was called marriage.

    --
    An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"