by Jonas Stewart

Created on: April 05, 2009

Computer virus writers use their enormous knowledge of the functioning of PCs in order to take control of them, break into apparently secure networks, read secret data or execute operations and transactions without the owner of the respective PC knowing.

Computer viruses have had a devastating effect on some companies, as there were occasions where whole databases of customer information was deleted or stolen, but the wide majority of computer virus writers aren't pursuing such dangerous aims.

The major motivation to start writing a computer virus is just curiosity, as it is nothing else than a program, and everyone who ever did programming has to admit that he thought about writing a virus, too. Naturally, some virus get out of hands and start spreading and destroying information and IT systems, but they're very rare. For the minimal percentage of virus programmers who effectively do write in order to harm somebody else, prison should be applied. Maybe not for too long, as they didn't kill or physically harm anybody, but punishment has to be used here in order to show these individuals what is acceptable and what is not.

However, the most famous and most productive computer virus writers are an essential part of the IT economy and shouldn't be imprisoned as they are needed by every major PC company. Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, Google, etc.: All employ genius hackers in order to test the performance and security of their systems. If they couldn't rely on these professional hackers, they couldn't adapt their systems to real security threats and thus every PC user would much more often be subject to data theft or other criminal activities on the Internet and the PC.

Furthermore, the average man who only thinks about hackers as "crazy young teens without any social life trying to harm other people's PCs" have to shift their point of view and accept that in the IT world, there are challenges and sports just as well as in the real world. And what for one may be the Saturday evening football game is for another the mutual Monday night hack attack where one friend tries to enter another one's PC and secret data. Such hobbies are to be encouraged instead of dismissing them, because the world is clearly going into a future where high technology is more and more important.

What's needed in order to organize and administrate these activities aren't prison and punishment, but a more accepting society which accepts to integrate these hobbies into everyday life by for instance creating hacker events and tournaments which would enable the PC specialists to live their hobbies without infringing the law.

Learn more about this author, Jonas Stewart.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.