Re: slightly off topic - "break" a database

Mark Bole wrote:

> I still think that if a legally competent adult in
> our "civil society" doesn't take reasonable precautions, based on common
> knowledge, to protect themselves from harm, then yes, they are to some
> degree to blame.

And I agree. I am very much in favor of people accepting personal responsibility.

But consider these nuances.

1. I park my car in a dark alley
2. I leave the car unlocked
3. I leave the keys in the ignition
4. I leave the motor running

I'll grant that 4 is way over the line: 3 too for that matter. But at 2 it gets a bit dicey. What if my car is a convertible? Or what if my vehicle is a motorcycle?

So I am whole-heartedly in agreement with you. But that is not an excuse that should be usable for a writer of a virus, for example, to say ... "well if you'd secured your machine my virus wouldn't have hurt you."

Shame on the computer owner for not applying the patch. Let them suffer the time and expense of fixing their problem. But lets agree as a society to get out the lead pipes and beat the virus writer senseless.

-- 
Daniel A. Morgan
http://www.psoug.org
damorgan_at_x.washington.edu
(replace x with u to respond)