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There has never been a legitimate application of software of this type since back orifice and sub 7. The only difference is this one is modern and also can be u

There has never been a legitimate application of software of this type since back orifice and sub 7. The only difference is this one is modern and also can be updated to leverage the latest zero day. this type of software should be banned and the company should be dismantled in addition to classifying the software as a weapons sale. In my opinion, it should be classified as a weapon of mass destruction, because it is.

inglor 5y ago
I have seen this software (well, not this software, a military equivalent) save a life in real time so it'd be very hard to convince me. Quoting an earlier reply from last year: > When I was in the Israeli army, I personally saw a phone being hacked, info being pulled and the info being used to stop a terrorist attack targeting civilians. I was not involved in the hack (I served in the navy). > In that particular case (but not the majority of cases) the target of the hack was an Israeli citizen who was practicing terrorism (against the Arab minority). After their info was intercepted they were arrested and the situation was de-escalated.
- srean 5y ago
  Such unverifiable, and easy to claim justifications (often used to whitewash acts of dubious morality, like torture etc.) do not do much though.
- aaaaaaaaaa1 5y ago
  This is an edge case, and is not a legitimate justification that billions of global users should need to worry about. The right to data privacy and right to free speech is more important than the lives in this scenario. At the permanent cost of inherit human freedoms and rights, you save a few thousand lives within a short time horizon. Over a longer time horizon, that same system that saved thousands of lives will kill millions more, and it will be done in total silence of anyone that dares to speak up and be a dissident.
Majestic121 5y ago
I was going to interject, but I learned that the American definition of Weapon of Mass Destruction is actually wide, and not limited to what is actually causing mass destruction like an atomic bomb or a biological attack. > In its criminal complaint against the main suspect of the Boston Marathon bombing of 15 April 2013, the FBI refers to a pressure-cooker improvised bomb as a "weapon of mass destruction." In this context, classifying it as a WMD could make sense (especially for a ransomware which can disable hospitals and sensitive infrastructure), but I think that using WMD to describe it is really watering down the word : an atomic bomb is creating orders of magnitudes more destruction than a spyware
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

inglor 5y ago

I have seen this software (well, not this software, a military equivalent) save a life in real time so it'd be very hard to convince me. Quoting an earlier reply from last year: > When I was in the Israeli army, I personally saw a phone being hacked, info being pulled and the info being used to stop a terrorist attack targeting civilians. I was not involved in the hack (I served in the navy). > In that particular case (but not the majority of cases) the target of the hack was an Israeli citizen who was practicing terrorism (against the Arab minority). After their info was intercepted they were arrested and the situation was de-escalated.

srean 5y ago
Such unverifiable, and easy to claim justifications (often used to whitewash acts of dubious morality, like torture etc.) do not do much though.
aaaaaaaaaa1 5y ago
This is an edge case, and is not a legitimate justification that billions of global users should need to worry about. The right to data privacy and right to free speech is more important than the lives in this scenario. At the permanent cost of inherit human freedoms and rights, you save a few thousand lives within a short time horizon. Over a longer time horizon, that same system that saved thousands of lives will kill millions more, and it will be done in total silence of anyone that dares to speak up and be a dissident.

Majestic121 5y ago

I was going to interject, but I learned that the American definition of Weapon of Mass Destruction is actually wide, and not limited to what is actually causing mass destruction like an atomic bomb or a biological attack. > In its criminal complaint against the main suspect of the Boston Marathon bombing of 15 April 2013, the FBI refers to a pressure-cooker improvised bomb as a "weapon of mass destruction." In this context, classifying it as a WMD could make sense (especially for a ransomware which can disable hospitals and sensitive infrastructure), but I think that using WMD to describe it is really watering down the word : an atomic bomb is creating orders of magnitudes more destruction than a spyware

deleted 5y ago
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