Re: to the point/Latin mutteri

Richard M. Gordon writes:
>
> Some people on the net treat it as a private community; some even
> treat it as a private gated community. That is, they treat the net as
> having its own law which supplants the law that applies outside the
> gates. This has more appeal (to me, at least) in matters of interest
> to and with stakeholders only within the net than it has in matters
> involving people or property outside the net, e.g., people and copyright
> owners who have not agreed to submit themselves or their property to
> "net law."

I agree that net users seem to regard themselves as a gated community. In fact, the hacker community in general, from which the neters originally sprang, has always regarded themselves as above conventional law. The whole area of computer security has benefited greatly from this attitude.

This partly explains the immense surprise that hackers evidence when they're arrested for their actions. They are used to playing chess w/ their security opponents; going around the board to punch them in the nose is unthinkable.

Commercial interests, and new customers/users may make a significant change in this viewpoint. Not only is the business community more litigatious, & less likely to put up w/ net traditions, but they resent the contempt in which old netwers hold them. Customers w/ experience on the commercial networks, e.g., America On-Line, are not likely to accept their second-class position when they use the Internet.

Don Zier
<don_zier[_at_]macgate.csuchico.edu> Received on Mon Dec 05 1994 - 20:01:03 GMT