Should virus writers be hanged?

[RVF500]

If we execute murderers, why don't we execute the people who write computer worms? It would probably be a better investment.

Now before you all start accusing me of being some kind of right wing fascist read on: http://slate.msn.com/id/2101297/

I didn't read the whole article yet but you can see what the guy's driver is from the above quoted excerpt. Basically he's doing the economics on the benefits of executing virus writers.

Thoughts?

[shiato storm]

well, without reading the linky, in direct response to the title question.... yes [along with thieving chavs]

[Marcos]

Yes, virus writers are people who wish nothing but negativity on the innocent public, that alone is reason enough for me to vote that they do not deserve a place in society.

Live and let live, and they break that rule in a stupid, stupid, waste of time, annoying way that only slows the world down and is 100% negative.

[Rave]

Nobody should be hanged, the death penalty is wrong. Anyone who can put a price on a human life is, not to put too fine a point on it, a total ***t.

Rich :¬)

Edit: Also, I'd like to see where he gets his evidence that one execution deters a further 10 murderers. I've never read any studies that suggest that the death penalty is any kind of deterrent at all, let alone that one execution deters 10 others. His whole argument is based on a fallacy.

[0iD]

Hanging is a tad draconian imo, but sentences handed out should be commensurate with the crime committed.

[TiG]

Virus writing is just so not murder... Infact i view it as pretty petty offence, why you may ask. Well if the software was properly written in the first place then virus's which i'm sure is more "exploits" wouldn't happen.

TiG

[Chunky]

or mabye they should make the punishment fit the crime

e.g give them a physical virus of their own?

[RVF500]

Well to be fair to the author rave he does go on to add caveats to his workings and it is after all a purely economic viewpoint which I thought was an interesting angle and thought I'd share. You know how I like to explore different viewpoints on subjects. You should do by now, we've been head to head enough times.

Now if we want to debate the death penalty and get hot under the collar about it then we should womble off to question time and have one of our gloves off debates on the subject. I think you've over reacted to this one mate.

Though I am largely opposed to the death penalty I don't believe the same rules should apply to terrorists. Won't go into reasons here if you want to discuss it then start a new thread and I'll be happy to join in.

In purely economic terms I think virus writers do more damage than muderers and with their more astute mindset would be more receptive to deterrence so publicly eliminating one would probably have a greater deterrent effect than it would on a murderer who operate under much more base impulses imho. Also I can't see how a murderer can have the same economic impact as a virus writer so on those grounds I think that the figures are false and that hanging/frying/poisoning publicly a virus writer would have a much more positive economic effect.

[mike_w]

Economically, it may make more sense to kill virus writers - but do we want to live in a society where punishments are decided upon economic impact? I believe the punishment should fit the crime, and death is too drastic.

As for when the death penalty should apply, I believe it should be for those murderers that have either repeatedly murdered, or mass murdered.

[Stewart]

Paedophiles, child murderers, cop killers, mass and serial killers, yes. Computer virus writers? Well, of course not. Should get a good few years inside though, make them realise its not a game and its not worth the 'fame' these people get from writing destructive programmes.

[RVF500]

On a purely economic viewpoint. Keeping a virus writer in jail simply prolongs the financial burden on society. But then keeping anyone in jail is expensive. So given that thought process we shouldn't need jails. Just holding pens and a lot of execution venues. Y'know, I do hate the word execution. It's murder, whether it's state sponsored or not. Subject to the caveat that I mentioned above.

This is after all a purely hypothetical thread.

[silent ben]

I think that any virus writers that can be caught and proscuted without doubt of their guilt should never be allowed near a computer again. Wether this involves giving them life in jail or killing them is up to the courts.

These people cause nothing but agro, no one would miss them (except maybe the antivirus companies, but all my antivirus is freeware so I dont care )

Ben

[Saracen]

Yes, virus writers should be hung. They should be stripped naked, covered in molasses and dunked in a vat of angry fire ants, then 'hung' by the cojones, using rusty barbed wire, over a slow-burning charcoal fire.

Hit by a virus? Me? Wotever gives you that idea?

Grrr.

[Rave]

Overreaction? Maybe. I was drunk at the time. Now I'm sober I can see that a lot of the rest of his argument is cr*p too, like the way he puts a value on one life using the difference in wages that a person will accept for a more or less risky job. Anyone who argues that Americans (or anyone for that matter, but Americans are the example he uses) have a sensible and proportionate view of risk, is hard of thinking to a frightening degree.

Do I think that virus writing is a serious and destructive crime? Absolutely, and I have no problem with the punishment being proportionate- but then I've long argued for much stricter punishments for 'white collar' crime in general. A lot of fraudsters get absurdly lenient sentences proportionate to the hardship and misery they cause.

Rich :¬)

[nichomach]

That, I'd agree with; there's too much of this idea of "victimless crime", be it virus writing or defrauding a pension fund or a bank or (for that matter) an insurance company. Sooner or later someone always suffers - maybe indirectly, but they do.

[Grey M@a]

in a way you have virus writers to thank, otherwise the operating systems you use would never be updated, never fixed/patched or holes in the system found, they exploit them due to someone else's sloppy programming so I think you have the Likes of Microsoft/Apple/Linux etc to partly blame for the shoddy coding. As with anything nothing is secure, if there's a will there's a way as they say, its like the ying and yang of software development, they counteract each other and create the balance.