Savanna.gnu.org compromised too

Savanna.gnu.org compromised too

Maybe it's also time for a change of focus, as I've said before.

I keep reading people saying things about locks, defects in locks, lock picks, and beating up people for not locking their doors properly.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but if I should (accidentally or on purpose) leave my back door open on my house, does that action tell you that you have the right to go in there and steal my washing machine?

Or, let's say I buy a lock from the Super-Defender Lock Company, and it turns out that somebody knows about a flaw in the metal, and that such a flaw allows them to break the lock, and get into my house. Does that mean people have the right to go on my property, break the lock, and hide in my house until I leave, then steal all my diskes?

We can fortify our computers until Hell freezes over, and as long as the people who break into them contine to be allowed to have no respect for our rights, they will continue to be broken into.

Once, a long time ago, my father left the back door of our house unlocked when we went on vacation. When we returned, we found the door locked on the bottom (one of those automatic locks once you leave,) and a note inside the house from a neighbor, saying that we had left it unlocked and that he'd locked it for us.

Now, I'm not trying to fault anyone for fixing problems in the computer; it seems fairly easy to conclude that a lot of security breaches are possibe because of software flaws. However, I do believe that people need to wake up to the fact that there are fundamental social issues at stake here that technology will never fix.

You've got to know that people are going to try really hard now to compromise Linux installations, especially since Gates and Co. made their big announcement about its insecurity. Don't be surprised if they are disillusioned former GPL supporters or current Microsoft fanatics who also happen to be expert crackers. You've got to have been expecting this, and for a long time. Also, Linux is now being advocated heavily by large, money-making concerns, as a possible desktop alternative. Joe User is not going to know (or care) about security the way some of you do. He may leave his window open, his door unlocked, or he may install a cheap-o-flex alram system.

Does that give anyone the right to violate or hijack his computer system? No.

It's not my fault if I'm the victim of a crime, it's the fault of the criminal. This was true when Microsoft was the butt of jokes about security, and it's still true now that Linux may be.