From hungary-online-owner Fri Mar 10 01:23:58 1995 Return-Path: owner-Hungary-Online Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id BAA27781 for hungary-online-out31415; Fri, 10 Mar 1995 01:23:58 -0800 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id BAA27775 for hungary-online; Fri, 10 Mar 1995 01:23:48 -0800 Received: via =-=-=-=-= from gabor@sbei.com for hungary-online@hungary.yak.net (hungary-online) Received: from sbei.com (ftp.sbei.com [198.93.144.3]) (fnord) by nando (8.6.5/8.6.5) with SMTP id BAA27709 for ; Fri, 10 Mar 1995 01:22:57 -0800 Received: from sbe1.sbei.com by sbei.com (Internet Gateway) (4.1/SMI-5.2.3) id AA08567; Fri, 10 Mar 95 01:24:26 PST Received: from sbe1034.sbe by sbe1.sbei.com (4.1/SMI-4.2) id AA22120; Fri, 10 Mar 95 01:23:15 PST Date: Fri, 10 Mar 95 01:23:15 PST From: gabor@sbei.com (Gabor Fencsik) Message-Id: <9503100923.AA22120@sbe1.sbei.com> To: Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Subject: (HOL) Re: moral considerations Cc: gabor@sbe1 Sender: owner-Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Tamas Bodoky jr. writes: > I accept morally that Shimomura catched someone who violated his > privacy. I accept morally Mitnick's Don Quijote fight for the illusion > of freedom. > ... > [An appropriate description] would point out that the message of the > case is that we should pay attention of the information we let just go > on the net, an that the greatest danger is neither Kevin nor his > colleagues, but the net itself soon permitting Big Brother to watch us > just too easy. Something that Kevin tried to tell us, not Shimomura. Pretty strong stuff from someone with an aversion to journalistic hyperbole. I take it you know a lot more about Mitnick's motives than I do. At least Markoff's motives are entirely clear. He is trying to sell newspapers. Let's assume Mitnick's motives were as you say: to fight for "the illusion of freedom", and to warn us about the threat from Big Brother (as opposed to just being a narcissistic nitwit who never grasped the concept that stealing and other forms of walking over people are wrong). The kind of freedom we seem to have in mind here is the freedom of a moral imbecile to do as he wishes, regardless of the rights of others. As for Big Brother, even if we accept that He is the greatest danger to us all (which I don't believe for one minute), the actions of Mitnick and his buddies have done nothing to fend Him off. Just the opposite. If anything, Mitnick has done a great deal to help transform the Net into a feudal world of walled fortifications, and to bring police attention to the Net. ----- Gabor Fencsik ############# # This message to Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net # was from gabor@sbei.com (Gabor Fencsik) # # To unsubscribe, # send "unsubscribe" to # An announcement-only subscription (less volume) is available # at # Send mail to for more information, # or to if you need human assistance. #############