Skip to Content
Uncategorized

Death Penalty for Virus Writers?

John Tierney has an interesting Op-Ed piece in yesterday’s New York Times in which he discusses the 21-month suspended sentence given to the author of the dreaded Sasser worm, which closed businesses, halted trains, and grounded airplanes, to quote Tierney….

John Tierney has an interesting Op-Ed piece in yesterday’s New York Times in which he discusses the 21-month suspended sentence given to the author of the dreaded Sasser worm, which closed businesses, halted trains, and grounded airplanes, to quote Tierney.

Oh, the author of the worm, Sven Jaschan, was also given 30 hours of community service.

Tierney’s article has an interesting discussion of an economic analysis by economist Steven Landsburg at University of Rochester concerning the value of capital punishment. The good professor believes that executing a murderer yields $100 million in social benefits.

Tierney’s argument, which is only partially tongue-in-cheek, says that computer worms, viruses, and other hacks are costing society $50 billion a year. So you only need to deter a mere 0.2% of those crimes–1 in 500 hackers–to get your money’s worth.

Is it time to start saying “Death to Hackers!”?

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build

“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”

ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it

The narrative around cheating students doesn’t tell the whole story. Meet the teachers who think generative AI could actually make learning better.

Meet the people who use Notion to plan their whole lives

The workplace tool’s appeal extends far beyond organizing work projects. Many users find it’s just as useful for managing their free time.

Learning to code isn’t enough

Historically, learn-to-code efforts have provided opportunities for the few, but new efforts are aiming to be inclusive.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.