A license to use the internet? BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
That is a good one. That guy uses the requirement of getting a car license as a reason why we should need a license for the internet.
That is utterly ridiculous. When you get behind the wheel of a car/small truck you are controlling a potential bullet. When you get behind the wheel of a large truck you are controlling a potential crusher/destruction device. When you get behind the wheel of a Semi you are controlling a potentially very hard to stop destruction device. etc. To drive a vehicle a person should at least know how to drive it properly and they should know how to properly identify and know how to handle various different road signs. The difference between following the directions of a sign and dis-regarding it or not knowing what the sign means can make the difference between life and death for yourself, other motorists and innocent pedestrians.
When you catch a virus you run the risk of your OS(software) being killed which calls for a simple format and re-installation of the OS and you risk losing personal files(which should be burned to a CD before you do the format)....you don't run the risk of killing yourself and other people. There is a big differnce between the lives of living beings and the life of data(software is nothing more than data that is read by your machine). Data can be replaced if it is killed(wiped out), lives can't be replaced.
To make a long story short, his drivers license analogy is stupid.
Now I don't see anything wrong with pursuing legal action and slapping huge fines on virus writers, online identity thiefs, people who use malicious scripts on thier sites and all other cyber terrorists. I don't see anything wrong with slapping fines on people who are knowingly spreading viruses.
I do think that people should have a manditory course load up(and can't be closed out...not even with ALT+F4 or the Task Manager) the first time they ever use thier brand new store bought computer that will give them a heads up about how to keep thier machine more secure.
For mission critical systems, the owner(s) of the system(s) should not hire an incompitent administrator. They should hite a very qualified administrator who knows his shit about keeping computers secure. The admin should be able to properly maintain any OS(Windows, anything that uses a Linux kernel, Unix, BSD, etc.). The companies who use a mission critical system but hire a less than qualified admin to save money should not be legally able to have a business that uses machines considered mission critical(like a power plant, like airlines, etc.).
[ September 14, 2003: Message edited by: Viper ]