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That's a misleading representation of the defense. "If I didn't do it, they would eventually have become a public nuisance in the form of nodes in a botnet" cap
by boomlinde 7y ago
That's a misleading representation of the defense. "If I didn't do it, they would eventually have become a public nuisance in the form of nodes in a botnet" captures the supposed intent more fairly, and with the intent to target every known vector used by Mirai and Qbot it seems quite realistic that these systems would eventually become botnet nodes.
It's IMO somewhat comparable to culling high-risk farm animals to prevent widespread disease outbreaks.
- FakeComments 7y agoOkay, I accept your analogy. Where do you have legal authority to do a vigilante culling of your neighbor’s herd, because you decided something about them merited it?
- boomlinde 7y agoThere is a dead reply to this which I think asks a fair question. > Where do you have legal authority to do a vigilante culling of your neighbor’s herd, because you decided something about them merited it? I am not making the argument that this is legally defensible. You can by definition not have legal authority to engage in vigilantism. It's from an ethical and practical perspective that I draw the analogy. On the matter of legality, the difference you point out applies, but also goes both ways. There is no legal framework around "culling" insecure devices, and very little regulation.