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EU: "Making hacking tools should be illegal"

theregister.co.uk

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Re: EU: "Making hacking tools should be illegal"

#21

Post by burgerbrain »

hugh3 wrote: post #14
burgerbrain wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I certainly can't see any way the way we currently do it could possibly go wrong either...

I do believe my point was that no law is free of unintended consequences, particularly not your law that outlaws laws with unintended consequences, thus your law outlaws itself. The outlawing of the law against laws with unintended consequences by the law against laws with unintended consequences would undoubtedly be considered yet another unintended consequence of the law against laws with unintended consequences.

Just make the law "any law with unintended consequences is illegal", then embrace any possible "consequence" of this law (such as perhaps laws you otherwise like being declared illegal), then the law should fail to outlaw itself. Any consequences would be by definition intended.

Anyway, I don't buy the suggestion that no law can be free of unintended consequences. If you construct a sufficiently formal definition of the system of law, and each law itself, then making a law without unintended consequences is simply (lol :P) a matter of proving the law. Quite similar to how programs can in fact be proven correct (contrary to the popularly held opinion that no program can be free of flaws.)

Is this practical? With our current setup, no. Hypothetically? Maybe... certainly at least worth pursuing the idea I would say.

Re: EU: "Making hacking tools should be illegal"

#24

Post by tomjen3 »

asomiv wrote: post #18

This is already the case in the Netherlands. Hacking tools are only allowed for private use or research, e.g. for checking the security of your own network. Possession of hacking tools with the intention to harm other peoples' systems is not allowed.

There seems to be a big difference between that law and this one in that this would outlaw all posessions of "Hacking tools".

Re: EU: "Making hacking tools should be illegal"

#25

Post by skymt »

jvanenk wrote: post #5

These sorts of laws need to include exceptions for tools that have a non-criminal purpose. Otherwise, a broad reading could include things like NetCat, Curl, and Apache Bench.

Which would render the whole shebang useless. All tools used for breaking into computers have legitimate uses for security professionals, not the least of which is penetration testing.

Re: EU: "Making hacking tools should be illegal"

#26

Post by viraptor »

dr_win wrote: post #15

knives should be illegal, they may be used to kill people

In UK, it's illegal to sell knifes to under-18s in many places. Yet, you'll have to live on your own if you go to school away from home before that age... Another silly rule that doesn't actually stop people from stabbing each other.

Re: EU: "Making hacking tools should be illegal"

#28

Post by d0ne »

jarin wrote: post #16

If hacking tools are outlawed, then only outlaws will have hacking tools. Meaning if you're a software developer or system admin in the EU, you better be on standby 24/7 to combat 0-day exploits.

"A fondness for power is implanted, in most men, and it is natural to abuse it, when acquired." - Alexander Hamilton

Re: EU: "Making hacking tools should be illegal"

#30

Post by pnathan »

tomjen3 wrote: post #24
asomiv wrote: post #18

This is already the case in the Netherlands. Hacking tools are only allowed for private use or research, e.g. for checking the security of your own network. Possession of hacking tools with the intention to harm other peoples' systems is not allowed.

There seems to be a big difference between that law and this one in that this would outlaw all posessions of "Hacking tools".

Lockpicks in my state in the US are permitted, except for having them with burglorious intent.

Same thing IMO.

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