discuss: Virus-Writing-HOWTO
Subject:
Re: Virus-Writing-HOWTO
From:
Dan York ####@####.####
Date:
15 Mar 2002 18:24:56 -0000
Message-Id: <20020315131915.E13929@e-smith.com>
Folks,
I haven't weighed in on this - or in truth on very much on this list
lately (funny what having a new job and impending birth of a child will
do to your volunteer hours) - but I do want to just throw in my 2 cents
on this. Specifically, I want to emphasize David Merrill's suggestions:
> Rename it to the "Virus Writing and Protection HOWTO", and make the
> content also equally (at least) balanced between the two. There should
> be no attack documented whose corresponding defense is not documented.
>
> Now I'm not a security expert, but I sure have access to lots of them.
> I personally will take their advice on whether they think it is
> irresponsible to publish. And I will not support publishing a purely
> destructive HOWTO in the name of free speech -- our mission is to help
> Linux users use their machines, not to help them commit crimes.
Here is my perspective... I want to see the continued growth of Linux
and related open source/free software. I want to see the tools that
we know will solve real problems for real people even more widely used.
But arrayed against us are powerful opponents that include commercial
entities such as a certain software vendor based in Redmond, WA, USA.
Those opponents are looking for anything that they can possibly use as
a weapon to attack our credibility, our character, etc.... they *do*
feel the pain that we have been inflicting upon them, and they want to
curtail our expansion and beat us back. The thing is, those opponents
also have the ear of the corporate executives and others. They keep
feeding those execs the same old tired mantras about how Linux is
undependable, how you can't rely on the people behind it, how much
better and more secure their own solution is... all the usual Fear,
Uncertainty and Doubt...
So if we feed into their FUD-creating machine by giving them something
called the "Linux Virus Writing HOWTO"... well, we are just opening
ourselves up to their attack... "Gee, look, their own Linux Documentation
Project even publishes a document about how to write viruses and crack
into your systems. We told you that you couldn't trust your corporate
network to these people. Doesn't this just prove the point?"
There's a marketing war out there, and the LDP is a tool in that battle
by refuting the FUD claim that Linux is has inadequate documentation
and information about it. I don't want to see the LDP's character and
credibility diminished by those who would attack Linux.
I'm not against publishing this specific information... to me it is how
the subject matter is framed and positioned. If the title stays as it
is, and the text merely deals with attacks (and not defenses), then I
think we lose - and we feed the FUD. OTOH, if the title changes as others
have suggested, and if the material is more balanced, then it becomes a
tool (as it sounds like Alexander intended) to fight the FUD by showing
how difficult it may be to write a virus and how they can be protected
against on our operating system.
Just my 2 cents, (Canadian, so about 1.3 cents US)
Dan
--
Dan York, Product Line Manager, SME Server and ServiceLink
Mitel Networks Corporation ####@####.####
Ph: +1-613-751-4401 Cell: +1-613-263-4312 Fax: +1-613-564-7739
350 Legget Drive, Ottawa, ON, K2K 2W7 Canada
http://www.mitel.com/sme/ and http://www.e-smith.com/
