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Blackbird
Built for Speed
Premium Member
join:2005-01-14
Fort Wayne, IN

Blackbird to dave

Premium Member

to dave

Re: USA to legalize root-kits,spyware???

said by dave:

I guess no-one else glanced at the report yet, since the report is mostly about theft of corporate IP sponsored by foreign corporations of foreign governments.

It's also (apparently: I just skimmed) pretty cautious about proposing legal changes permitting cyberattacks, since it recognizes the risks, though it doesn't rule them out of bounds for consideration.

The paragraph quoted by Emsisoft says what can be done legally today, but I think they misunderstand it. What I take it to mean is, if you steal file X and open file X, then file X can legally fuck you over. This is not the "Sony rootkit" scenario.

More when I've read the damn thing; 100 pages online is more than I care to do. I need paper.

The pdf document is originally 84 pages long ( Report of the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property ), and the relevant paragraphs to this thread are contained within pages 81 and 82.

The document focuses mainly on penetrations of US networks and digital theft of "intellectual property".

The problem with some of these recommendations is that such things often take on a life of their own, ending up being morphed, expanded, and then embodied in legislation justified by the crisis-nature of the described problem and passed by a Congress that all-too-often tends to "pass a bill before they read it".

While the described crisis may be very real, the civil-liberty and due-process ramifications of some of the suggestions may be truly dangerous as well, particularly if they get targeted by overly broad implementations and justifications of suggested countermeasures. A lot of freedom can be obliterated by the argument that one has to act immediately without waiting for the likes of legal procedures (eg: acting proactively at "network speed").
dave
Premium Member
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio

dave

Premium Member

It's 100 pages according to Adobe Reader

(There's covers, front matter, back matter, etc.)

The rest of your comments, I don't disagree with, but nevertheless, I think we should discuss it from an informed viewpoint, and not sensational headlines.