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A comment on NSA infected 50,000 computer networks with malicious software. Parent comment

Re:NSA infected 50,000 computer networks with malicious soft... by malandrew on Saturday November 23, 2013 @12:56PM (#6786758)
Yup. TBH I simply don't understand the logic that makes an offensive act against a non-combatants by an individual illegal, but somehow permits that same act against non-combatants by a nation state.

It it is illegal for an individual to murder someone, then it should be illegal for the government to do so. If it is illegal for a programmer to infect thousands of computers of innocent people with malware, then it should be illegal for the government to do so.

I have no doubt in my mind that among those 50k are many innocent people (foreign and domestic), and that among the domestic infections, I doubt the NSA could produce a warrant or other legal instrument that permits them to have caused that infection.

Under what wacky laws do we actually permit such malware. And are there any provisions in those laws proscribing corrections for any offensive malware programs that cause collateral damage.

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Re:NSA infected 50,000 computer networks with malicious soft... by tedunangst on Saturday November 23, 2013 @02:17PM (#6787069)
What does illegal mean in the context of government? The government decides what's illegal. If you want to declare some government's action illegal, you need to find a bigger government to impose their laws on the little government.
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Re:NSA infected 50,000 computer networks with malicious soft... by grey-area on Saturday November 23, 2013 @03:12PM (#6787257)
If you live in a nation of laws, i.e. some form of functioning democracy, the people decide what is legal through their representatives, and this can change gradually as attitudes shift. The government is supposed to be an instrument of the people, not the other way around.
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Re:NSA infected 50,000 computer networks with malicious soft... by tedunangst on Saturday November 23, 2013 @03:17PM (#6787278)
I assume the parent is talking about the USG spying on or murdering other not-US people, in which case the people of the US have more or less decided that's what they want.
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