Worm bait?

[jc at trillian.mit.edu (John Chambers)]

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.