full-disclosure - Authorities eye MSBlaster suspect

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From: ww at STYX.ORG (ww@...X.ORG)
Subject: Authorities eye MSBlaster suspect

On Sat, Aug 30, 2003 at 10:39:53AM -1000, Jason Coombs wrote:

> if he made the modifications and gave the modified worm to other people but
> didn't cause it to infect anyone else's computers, then what crime is he
> guilty of exactly? criminal misuse of a hex editor?

it could certainly be argued that the "damage" caused by this copy of the
program is no greater than it would have been if his home computer had 
simply been infected and passed it on in the usual way. in fact, maybe
he is even the pioneer of a new art form where people, out of respect for
the rights of the autonmous agent, refuse to remove these programs from their
computers and use hex editors to tattoo their message onto the worms' backs.
i can see web sites with worm poetry -- the random juxtaposition of 
sentences that trace a particular worm geneaology as it passes across the
mesh, perhaps even paper-bound volumes.

other than neglecting to install a program with a genocidal attitude
towards certain processes, what exactly did this guy do wrong?