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Should computer virus writers go to jail? Let's think a few minutes before we rush into answering this question.

Should Consumer Report tester go to jail for finding out design mistakes that manufacturer let on products put on the market because they hoped that no one would find them?

Should have Ralph Nader gone to jail because he discovered a life threatening defect, known to the manufacturer, still not corrected until he brought it to the public attention?

There is an easy answer to this question, but we seem to avoid giving it, and as usual as typical humans we tend to fight the effect not the cause.

I am not a virus writer, and I know what problems they are causing to the industry as a whole. However, when we found mistakes with let's say cars, we created laws to recall those cars and to fix the mistakes. We never prosecuted the designer and the decision makers who allowed those mistakes on the road. And there is evidence that most of the problems are known to the manufacturer, but are overlooked because it is cheaper to pay a lawsuit, than it would be to fix the problem once in production. And, I am happy to say it, the quality of the products on the market is improving every day because we put legislation in place.

Back in 2003, in August, actually on August 13, and I have my personal reasons to remember that date, an Internet worm created by a young German boy, set off havoc in the Windows World all over the world. In the United States a few Government agencies were brought to a halt for a few days. One of the branches of the University of Wisconsin was without computers for a couple of days. Most of my clients were affected by it also. What did the worm do? As soon as one made a connection to the Net, the computer will go into a shut down mode and reboot, entering an endless loop if the user tried to reconnect to the Net. If one only needed to work on local drive or local network, there was not disruption in service.

The whole world went into a frenzy to discover the "criminal." And I have to say, that he was discovered and he got in a real legal problem. However, when things calmed down a little, the world found out that the "juvenile delinquent," I think he was under eighteen, discovered a hole in Microsoft Windows program, and informed those in charge of the potential risk of the flaw. However, no one did anything, and Microsoft with its regular grace, not only ignored that guy, but tried to ridicule him. So what did he do? He showed us that we are working

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