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Beware the Kindness of Strangers: The Case Against Good Samaritan Hackers
Richard Forno, 2002-03-28

The Good Samaritan defence, invoked by hackers like Adrian Lamo, can too easily be distorted by those with less altruistic intentions.

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Beware the Kindness of Strangers: The Case Against Good Samaritan Hackers 2002-03-28
Anonymous (1 replies)
When Mr. Ranum opines, "It's against the law, how much more cut and dry can you get?", he misses a crucial point: that the law is not static. And the laws currently regulating technology, and the internet in particular, are extraordinarily unenlightened, inappropriate, and ineffective. After all they were written by elected politicians with little understanding of the issues they were legislating. The rule of unintended consequenses is carrying the day.

Mr. Ranum should remember this: Once upon a time it was illegal to drive a motor vehicle in NYC. The laws of tomorrow will be different from those of today, in part because of the civil disobedience of people like the Good Samaritan hackers.

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Link to this comment: http://www.securityfocus.com/comments/columns/70/11491#11491
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