Ex-Special-Agent Settle deserves all the derision he has gotten (probably not in the right places) for his LSD-in-the-water-supply threat:
"You bring me a select group of hackers and within 90 days I'll bring this country to its knees, " says Jim Settle, retired director of the FeeBee's computer crime squad.
snow's jibe about doing the same with a handful of spooky special forces guys (less than 15, if he used snipers) was appropriate. I think, however, Dale Drew went too far when he denied that the demension of the Net added nothing new to the range of social or economic threat. Don't we, as a technical culture, have to acknowledge the burgening nihilism that is exemplified in both the subculture of virus (and other randomly distructive pieces of attack code,) and the larger culture that so often lauds their "creativity" and "ingenuity." Not even lumpen-Libertarianism allows the author of such pain and distruction to escape moral responsibility -- yet the popular tech culture (and the pop culture) does just that! The culture can deal with purposeful terrorism, even purposeful Net terrorism, but a whole subculture of sociopaths who -- like arsonists on a binge, or (to exaggerate slightly) the nerve gas cult in Japan -- toss out distructive code bombs to see who or what gets blown away, is indeed something new. How many wild viruses are now loose? What new corners of the networked infrastructure will be the next forum for these arsonists? Java applets? NT? The nodes of the Net itself? Is this too to be left to police suppression? Are Net Cops inevitable? Are there other forces that could be brought to bear? (Forces that could perhaps be influenced by the tone or substance of comments that originate here or in similar forums?) And isn't this threat unique to a culture which has become so dependant on the structured flow of information products and tools? The sky isn't falling; there are no bodies in the street -- so we have time... but the sense of threat could become so serious that the public would seek shelter, solice, stability. The spooks' wet-dream, the wiretapped Garrison Nation (two-way TV always on; no one allowed to whisper away from a microphone) is one answer. Of a sort. Suerte, _Vin Vin McLellan +The Privacy Guild+ <vin@shore.net> 53 Nichols St., Chelsea, Ma. 02150 USA Tel: (617) 884-5548 <*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*>