NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/comp/org/eff/talk/8213

Internet Message Format | 1992-12-31 | 1.6 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!think.com!hsdndev!news.cs.umb.edu!betsys
From: [e-mail] (Elizabeth Schwartz)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: Beneficial Virus?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 31 Dec 92 21:11:24 GMT
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail] (USENET News System)
Organization: University of Massachusetts at Boston
Lines: 22
In-Reply-To: [e-mail]'s message of 31 Dec 92 19: 14:48 GMT
Nntp-Posting-Host: ra.cs.umb.edu

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Richard Powers) writes:
>>>Quite a broad statement there.  I came up with an idea (never
>>>implemented BTW) for a file compression virus for use on my home
>>>computer(s).  Basically it would be a standard virus, but it would

>>So your "beneficial" virus gets loose on my computer.  And some time later,

>I said this would be for _my_ use on _my_ home computer, and it would
>look for permission before spreading.  It would not 'get loose' on
>your computer unless you asked for it _and_ placed a special
>permission file in your system.

In that case, it really isn't a virus. A disk compression program that
automatically compresses all files on the disk is a device driver in
my book. A "virus" is a program that replicates itself and attempts to
spread itself from one "host" computer to another.

--
System Administrator                  Internet: [e-mail]
MACS Dept, UMass/Boston               Phone   : [phone]
100 Morrissey Blvd                    Staccato signals
Boston, MA 02125-3393                      of constant information....