>>> smac at visi.com 10/22/03 07:57AM >>> >The problem IS the rootkit, it enables a crime >to be committed. Dead wrong. Tools do nothing alone. Focusing on them, instead of the criminal act of using said tools to commit a crime does exactly what you purport to oppose: it removes at least some responsibility (from the criminal) for the act committed. The argument "He could not do what he did if those tools were not so freely available" makes no sense to me. The "freely available" part allows me, the law abiding potential victim, to look at the tools too, to be able to recognize them when they are used against me, and to prepare defenses against them. Making the tools "illegal" robs me, not a criminal intent on using them. If he already plans to attack my computers illegally, I don't think acquiring or constructing an "illegal" tool to do so will make him "think twice". That's my 2 cents. Troy P.S. - This will not stop me from crying in my beer when someone uses a rootkit on me, but focusing on the rootkit as "the problem" will not make me feel any safer in the mean time. Or afterwards, for that matter. _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list