Message-ID: <ILEPILDHBOLAHHEIMALBOEDFGOAA.jasonc@science.org>
From: jasonc at science.org (Jason Coombs)
Subject: Authorities eye MSBlaster suspect

> I'm not certain what I said that is your issue.  My intent is,
> this young man is caught in possession of a nickel bag.

ah, I read your statement "nickel-bagger" to mean somebody who sells drugs to
the end-user on the street, a small-time regional distributor. you meant
"somebody in possession of a nickel bag" apparently? a drug user who is
primarily a threat to himself (unless he operates a motor vehicle at any time
in life subsequent to the drug use or otherwise allows his impaired condition
to harm society such as by being unable to hold employment) rather than a more
serious criminal who is a real threat to others.

the suspect pretty clearly engaged in childhood hacking and cracking with all
of the trappings, and he forgot that he turned 18 and was supposed to stop
(not to mention grow up).

I'm concerned by the trend in law and in society to recast harmless childhood
pranks and teenage hacker curiosity as the equivalent of serious crimes - thus
we seem to be in agreement.

if society wants to throw adult criminals like Jeffrey Lee Parson in prison,
then more power to it. but it should have no illusions about what it is doing:
prosecuting as criminal acts that which immature script kiddies of all ages
perceive as somebody else intentionally luring them into an exciting and
fascinating enterprise that beats the hell out of watching television. in many
ways Bill Gates personally created Jeffrey Lee Parson, both in terms of
indirectly being responsible for the vulnerable code/OS and in terms of hyping
economic activity surrounding it, such that every teenager in the
industrialized world is mesmerized by Windows-based PCs ... except those few
who are talented enough to see through the hypocricy and the lies.

the fact that in this case there is a direct political/social/economic insult
hurled at "Billy Gates", and an expression of disgust that Windows is so
pathetic and puts to many people at risk, combined with the fact that the
suspect didn't try very hard, if at all, to hide his identity, just points to
a scenario that is very unlike any drug crime. perhaps it borders on
political/social activism -- perhaps it borders on protected speech.

there can be little doubt that if the suspect didn't personally launch the
worm variant as a tool of attack, with the intention of causing harm, then the
FBI is faced with proving that this was not protected speech but something
criminal; that the suspect did intend others to take his derived work in
compiled form and use it as a tool of attack and therefore is guilty of aiding
and abetting the crimes of others.

Jason Coombs
jasonc@...ence.org

-----Original Message-----
From: full-disclosure-admin@...ts.netsys.com
[mailto:full-disclosure-admin@...ts.netsys.com]On Behalf Of Michael D
Schleif
Sent: Saturday, August 30, 2003 7:08 PM
To: full-disclosure@...ts.netsys.com
Subject: Re: [Full-Disclosure] Authorities eye MSBlaster suspect


Jason Coombs <jasonc@...ence.org> [2003:08:30:10:39:53-1000] scribed:
> <mds@...ices.org> wrote:
> >
> > OK, they nabbed a nickel-bagger
>
> come on, the guy is a lot closer to a lovesick youth who couldn't resist
> carving his initials in Windows when he saw the chance than he is to a drug
> dealer.
<snip />

I'm not certain what I said that is your issue.  My intent is, this
young man is caught in possession of a nickel bag.  To my knowledge,
there is nothing about this kid that indicates any international drug
cartel, much less a significant menace to society.

Nonetheless, every newspaper I saw on Saturday presented this bust as a
*major* victory in the war on terrorism !?!?

Let's get a grip, and face reality!

Whether or not this kid is guilty of anything illegal; or, whether or
not his intent was malevolent; this particular event is not even a mote
in god's eye, and we'd do well to focus our attentions on more
significant portents.

Unless, of course, you are simply amused by his exploit . . .

--
Best Regards,

mds
-
Dare to fix things before they break . . .
-
Our capacity for understanding is inversely proportional to how much
we think we know.  The more I know, the more I know I don't know . . .
--

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