ACK! -- CONTINUED

[Jonathan Hutchins]

Quoting "L. Adrian Griffis" <adrian at nerds.org>:

> It sounds like what you are really trying to say is that what
> they did *should* be a crime, and as far as that statement goes,
> I think most of us agree with you.  

Don't count me in that crowd.  If real damage is done, yes, there's a crime.

Let's say you leave your dayrunner on the seat of your car, and it falls open 
to the page where your passwords and PIN numbers are.  I, having eidetic 
memory, look in and read them.  

Have I comitted a crime?

If I find a way to use those passwords, and if in using them I do something 
more than simply log on and write "hi mom!", then yes, THAT is a crime.

There has to be some reason and proportionality here.  Just because it's a 
computer, it shouldn't automatically be treated as a crime.  That's just as 
stupid as treating any crime committed using a computer as a "harmless prank".

Real damage (not "loss of potential business") is grounds for real 
persecution.  Yes, pranks are annoying, but they're pranks, not crimes.

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