The Hacker’s Definition Of Freedom Of Information

In this community we seem to have struck a curious balance on this subject. By and large the user base seems pretty sensible. Occasionally a so-called “FOI” bulletin board system pops up and thrives for a few months on the spark of notoriety, and then wonders what to do when the novelty dies off.
I occasionally have to laugh at the description of these boards as being related to the freedom of information (I usually associate the FOI abbreviation with the FOI Act regarding disclosure of official records). They come on strong and wave the First Amendment in front of everyone, when in fact few BBSes operate strictly as an outlet for the First Amendment. No matter which BBS you’re on, there’s something you can get in hot water for saying. For the most part, restraint comes from the users, who know what is expected of them…but I don’t think you could take a BBS or a service like AOL to court for violating your First Amendment rights. Therefore, “freedom of information” is a very selective term when it comes to this medium, and is hardly an accurate one.
One of the problems I have with the peddling of such information [viruses] is that I can’t see very much good coming of it. Sure, there may be one in a hundred who’s interested in studying a virus to learn how to defeat it, but that is a rare case. I’ve already seen it cited in this dicsussion, in fact, and I don’t think it’s a good enough reason to keep viruses stored on a BBS, even if they are labeled as such. More often they are used to no good end whatsoever. There was an incident in the past three or four years here where an individual acquired a number of stored viruses and apparently boasted to someone that he was going to use them to damage a competing user’s BBS. This seems to me a very good reason NOT to put such material on a BBS.
Another thought – the Center for Disease Control stores several deep-frozen specimens of highly hazardous viruses and bacteria in their facility in Atlanta. Should we allow anyone who wishes it to acquire such material, or the means to cultivate it? Sure, there’s a big difference between life and death and loss of data, but with data storage becoming an almost ubiquitous means of doing everything from conducting business to storing vitally important hospital records, the distinction between life/death and loss of data grows thinner with every day. If someone wishes to access viruses, either biological or technological, let them study hard and become a part of the organizations in whom authority and trust to do so has been vested.
To take lesser measures would be irresponsible to society.
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This rather preachy little explosion was originally an e-mail response to a bulletin board system user’s request for information regarding viruses. I’m happy to report that after reading my perhaps too-scathing reply to him, the user in question withdrew his request.

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