Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote,
> Spudboy100@aol.com wrote:
> >
> > http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1344000/1344344.stm
> >
> > By BBC News Online technology correspondent Mark Ward
> > A helpful virus is making its way around the web, checking computers for
> > vulnerabilities and closing them.
>
> HA! I wondered when this was going to start happening. The virus itself
> may sound benevolent, and it probably is, but the whole thing betrays a
> new kind of ecology where users' computers are just pushed around by
> whatever force takes control of their system. Now it's not a question of
> good users and bad hax0rs fighting it out, but good viruses and bad
> viruses fighting it out.
Yes, I predicted this also. The problem is the same as we have with our two
party system in the U.S. Each side tries to control the unsuspecting user
without giving the user the autonomy to control themselves.
This worm may sound good, but it is still trespassing and making changes
without permission. It then uses the computer without permission to seek
out other computers to "help". It never asks if the victim computer wants
to be scanned, patched, or used to "help" others. What happens to my demo
of Linux bugs when this worm "fixes" it? What happens to my CPU speed or
network bandwidth as this thing secretly starts scanning in the background?
Even if you think this worm fixes bad holes, wait until somebody decides
that Microsoft Visual Basic is just too dangerous, and tries to "fix" it on
everybody else's computer. I fear the coming wave of copycats who will try
to be "helpful" without asking.
-- Harvey Newstrom <http://HarveyNewstrom.com> <http://Newstaff.com>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 10:00:07 MDT