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Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Jun 9th 2003 11:21pm





Internet Crime Forum Calls For Tougher Sentences For Hackers

from the like-that-will-teach-them? dept

An internet "crime group" made up of businesses, police departments, and government officials in the UK are saying that sentences against computer hackers should be tougher in order to discourage the behavior. Of course, all of these laws have a very loose definition of "hacking", meaning that some activities that are entirely benign can get a curious hacker locked up for five years. If people want to crack down on hacking there needs to be a much better definition between hacking that actually causes real, classifiable damage, and those where someone claims $50 billion lost after someone happens to find an open security hole in their server. Clearly, breaking in to someone else's machines is a problem, but authorities never seem to take into account what actual damage (if any) is done. Instead, they seem to get more scared and call for tougher sentences.

6 Comments | Leave a Comment

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    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jun 10th, 2003 @ 2:36am

    No Subject Given

    hmmm, so breaking into somebody else's house out of curiosity does not provoke some real, classifiable damage...

     

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    •  
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      Mike (profile), Jun 10th, 2003 @ 2:40am

      Re: No Subject Given

      As I said in the post, I still think that just breaking in is wrong. However, it's not as bad as some make it out to be. And, there are too many cases where hackers who have done no actual damage are accused of doing plenty of damage because the company can make up all sorts of "damage" values for information that might have been accessed.

       

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        herpes, Jun 10th, 2003 @ 2:51am

        Re: No Subject Given

        am not sure you could compare...either way is just bad, as simple as that. and i guess it is better to prevent than cure, huh?

         

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          Mike (profile), Jun 10th, 2003 @ 2:59am

          Re: No Subject Given

          either way is just bad

          So, what about a situation where someone simply discovers that your website is not secure, and tells you how to fix it? Should that person also go to jail for five years for "hacking" your site? It's not a situation where everything is clearcut.

           

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          •  
            identicon
            herpes, Jun 10th, 2003 @ 3:10am

            Re: No Subject Given

            Of course it is something up to interpretation. My point is that excluding the ones with bad intentions many start doing it just out of curiosity and not for testing the security. And THIS is just as bad as a crime, imo.

             

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            •  
              identicon
              herpes, Jun 10th, 2003 @ 3:16am

              Re: No Subject Given

              btw Mike, what would be your first reaction if I'd say that i just dropped by your house and found out that your security code was piece of cake to hack? :)

               

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