, 2005-10-03
Can writing software be a crime? A recent indictment in San Diego, California indicates that the answer to that question may be yes. We all know that launching certain types of malicious code - viruses, worms, Trojans, even spyware or sending out spam - may violate the law. But on July 21, 2005 a federal grand jury in the Southern District of California indicted 25 year old Carlos Enrique Perez-Melara for writing, advertising and selling a computer program called "Loverspy," a key logging program designed to allow users to capture keystrokes of any computer onto which it is installed. The indictment raises a host of questions about the criminalization of code, and the rights of privacy for users of the Internet and computers in general.
- Microsoft - for all the dead networks for malware, for all the "remote assistance"-like stuff, for all the DUMB holes in Outlook, NTLM for backdooring?
- MANY of the vendors of remote administration software - it CAN be silently installed and runned on PC, 100%-stelthly from user.
- Any person, who'll run a software PC logger for his "out of office" time to be sure that nobody used that his OWN PC?
- Any researcher, who'll just technically solve another task for remote administration of something?
- MANY companies that're loggin and collecting free email accounts, visited websites and screen records of their emlpees?
.... or maybe we'll use our common sense and brain(usable devices, especially if the proper drivers are installed)? :) I think it's time to stop a paper-dirting crap and start to be in clear mind condition.
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Link to this comment: http://www.securityfocus.com/comments/columns/360/32498#32498