Scum of the Internet

[Encard]

I'd say that punishment for hackers should be base don what they do. Something along the lines of hacking someone's website and writing "STOP WAR" on it seems like it would normally be more or less electronic vandalism (possibly other things depending on the manner it was done in, but, anyway), so I'd say treat it, criminally, as vandalism. The same with other electronic crimes.

A quesiton to the original poster... As an example of why hackers are good, you mentioned that they can help you get revenge on someone you're not very fond of. Now, I'm a bit curious... Are you for legalizing other things that are currently criminal actions if the person's motive is revenge? because the non-electronic versions of most anything a hacker could do, I think, would also be illegal.

Now, for spam, spyware, and identity theft... I'd say some sort of light punishment for the first, punishment for the second based on just how invasive the spyware is, and very heavy punishment for the last, since the last is a nice little way to ruin someone's life (I'm assuming you mean identity theft as in stealing someone's personal information for one's own personal use, specifically information usable to make purchases of various sorts)?

[Azimaith]

I'd like nasty fines for malicious use of spyware, this means downloading progs without your knowledge, causing uber popup storms ect.

[Azimaith]

Originally posted by Gnarf: quote: Originally posted by Azimaith: quote: Originally posted by Xen: Not all hackers are bad. Some are just hacking to websites,writing something like "STOP WAR!" or similar. I personally think that Hacker(s) should be treated on what they do. Not every virus,worm,assualt etc... is bad. On the other hand how many hackers are "good"?

Ridiculous, writing STOP WAR on a website is undermining peoples own opinions. When did a person who says STOP WAR automatically become just and right? Absolutely idiotic. If your messing with other peoples property electronic or not your hurting others. Its like if I saw your house and thought "wow that would look much better a neon pink color!" then painted it without even bothering to ask you.[/QUOTE]I'd like that better than if they walked into the house and stabbed me, just as I'd like it better if a hacker messed with my website than my credit card. No one's said that writing "STOP WAR!" on a website is just and right, just that they shouldn't be treated like someone that's stealing your ID or crahing your puter. [/QUOTE]See the funny thing is, i'd rather they leave my property alone completely. If I was going to take the lesser of the two evils, sure i'd rather take the easily fixable one. But the thing is, I shouldn't have to choose the lesser of two evils, I should not be bothered by hackers in anyform because not only is it undermining my right to privacy it also makes peace of mind much harder. When Xen said seemed to make light of the undermining of my right to my own opinion as if saying stop war on a website was something OK or nothing to worry about.