RE: coding (was: Re: CodeGreen beta release (idq-patcher/antiCodeRed/etc.)

["David Schwartz" <davids () webmaster com>]

> Gun and cigarette manufacturers do not sell their products  with
> malice.

        Right. Even though there might be a market for cigarettes that kill people
immediately (good for your boss) or guns that blow up when you press the
trigger (offer them for sale secretly right outside prisons to the folks who
just got out), nobody sells them. Gun manufacturers sell products that
perform a morally-neutral function, killing a person. Cigarette
manufacturers sell a product that provides people a benefit they want with a
risk they're willing to take.

        Malicious code and exploit code, on the other hand, is more like a
cigarette that kills you instantly or a gun that blows up when you squeeze
the trigger. They're interesting to talk about and look at, but there is no
moral application for them.

        That doesn't mean it's automatically immorral to create malicious code. But
it does mean that your analogy is severely flawed.

        DS