My favorite analogy: Driving.

It is perfectly legal to drive under age and without permit on a closed track. Nor does the car need to meet standard security requirements. Do as you like, it is YOUR track, just don't blame anyone if you kill yourself.

Things become different once you hook up your local track with the public roads. You need a drivers license to drive. There are rules for how to drive in the traffic, stay right, stop when red etc.

Your car must meet certain criteria such as ability to stop. The car must be checked every so often to assure that it meets the security requirements.

Further, it is obligatory for the owner to have an insurance covering the car regardless of who drives it.

All these things in order to avoid accidents and to cover any expenses in case of an accident.

People happily accept these rules. It makes sence. They understand that if they are not mechanics then they must pay someone to do the job.

When it comes to computers, it is perfectly ok to do whatever you like as long as you are on a closed network. But when you hook up the computer to the internet or other public network then things becomes different.

People usually understand the analogy, the do get the point, however they still refuse to accept the concequences. "But this is different," they say, "no one is getting killed." Well some day that might well happen, and even if not, many car accidents has no injuries or deaths, but still costs actual money for the repair...

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