[Mimedefang] Viruses: Bounce or Discard?

[Jeffrey Goldberg]

On Mon, 29 Sep 2003, Ben Kamen wrote:

> Well - hmmm... so I would blame my mom/dad and charge her/him $0.10 for
> every virus they send out because some script-kiddie wrote malware on a
> platform from a company that's known for thumbing up their nose at the
> concept of security.

Yes, because ...

> Too bad we can't charge back M$ with the problem in terms of wasted
> bandwidth.

Well, we can't.  The EULAs, and MS's alacrity in the legal system mean it
isn't going to work that way.

What will work (as I said in a previous message) is market pressure on MS
and other vendors to provider better systems.  People must be ultimately
be responsible for how the equiptment they own behaves on a public
network.

If you look at the most recent obnoxious incidents, MS had announced the
patch many weeks, if not months, before the malware did the dirty.
Microsoft caters to users who think that security is a product that comes
with their system (if they think about security at all).  I blame MS for
lots of things, but not for this one.

> But blaming the user for using an OS they almost "have" to... that's
> tough. There is a responsible party.. I just don't think it's the end user.

For many users there may be many reasons why MS is a compelling choice.
Ignorance of alternatives would be a leader there.  But actually holding
Granny and Granpa and Aunt Sally responsible for what their machines do on
a public network will get end users to consider deals and packages where
they may pay for someone else to take that liability (including their
vendor).

-j

-- 
Jeffrey Goldberg                            http://www.goldmark.org/jeff/
 Relativism is the triumph of authority over truth, convention over justice
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