Home
| Calendar
| Mail Lists
| List Archives
| Desktop SIG
| Hardware Hacking SIG
Wiki | Flickr | PicasaWeb | Video | Maps & Directions | Installfests | Keysignings Linux Cafe | Meeting Notes | Blog | Linux Links | Bling | About BLU |
Jeff Kinz writes: | | Derek, as usual, makes very good points. How about a proposal to add | a requirement that every person who gets a license having to post a bond | of some specific monetary value which will be paid out in the event that | they either spam or do not secure their system against malware. :-) | (Impractical and unlikely, I know, but I can dream can't I? :-) ) Not likely to ever happen. Even in areas where there is this sort of liability, courts are usually quite willing to listen to evidence that you didn't do it yourself. Thus, using some fairly simple hardware, I could tap into the phone line leading into your house when you're not at home, and make some harrassing phone calls. In many cases, all it takes is a phone cord that has had one plug cut off and replaced by a couple of alligator clips. If you had an alibi (and a credit-card receipt from a store or restaurant would do), you wouldn't be held liable hardly anywhere, even though it was your phone line. There are some good fines for misusing 911 or other emergency lines. A few years ago, there was a funny story about a tomato that made repeated 911 calls. The people weren't home. The tomato was in a wire basket hanging over the phone. The tomato was getting quite ripe, and started dripping juice onto the phone. The short circuit effected the button programmed to 911. When the people got home, they found police cars and an ambulance at their home. When they went in and examined the phone, everyone had a good laugh, the people promised to put the hanging basket somewhere better, and the cops and medical people drove off. And the tomato made the news that day. Any jury is likely to be full of people who are very well aware of how impossible it is for a "normal" person to get much control over their computer. You'll find it very difficult to get any sort of negligence charges past a jury. They'll all be thinking, for good reason, that tomorrow it'll happen to them.
BLU is a member of BostonUserGroups | |
We also thank MIT for the use of their facilities. |