Implications of recent virus (Trojan Horse) attack

Doug Gwyn gwyn at smoke.BRL.MIL
Thu Nov 17 07:52:47 AEST 1988


The problem is, ethics and legality have little logical connection
with each other.  One does not solve an ethical problem by passing
crime laws.  To take Mumaugh's example of playing "rogue", it IS
technically a crime to do so with Federal facilities.  However I
am sure that this has not much deterred people from doing it.  And
one might wonder whether it is even unethical, much less something
criminal.  If the Federal bureaucracy were properly based on
hierarchical authority/responsibility/accountability, then when a
supervisor decided that such "abuse" was benign or even beneficial,
it should be allowed.  Unfortunately that is not the way the Civil
Service operates, especially in peacetime.

No, ethics and morality need to be self-motivated.



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