> Computers are indeed not like any of these things.
None of those things are really like the others either, except that they are all still (lesser) crimes even if you're not successful.
> I would compare to chatting with someone and talking them into committing suicide. Wasn't there a court case about this a couple of years ago? This is something that is only considered a serious crime if it is successful. Otherwise, it's just being creepy and annoying, who would accept those calls/chats anyway.
Probably depends on the state. If it's a crime to convince someone to commit suicide, it's probably a crime to attempt to do so. In California, attempting a crime is a crime in itself.
> It's unfortunate that people accept and even love fundamentally unsafe designs of computer operation, where they are not in complete control of what their computer does, and then get upset when their computer does something quite actively opposite of what they wanted. This is inevitable! The biggest difference is in the prevalence.
"Fundamentally unsafe"? Unplug your computer if you want fundamentally safe. Otherwise you are always fundamentally unsafe. Access to your house is not "fundamentally safe", but if someone kicks in your door and barges in, few will tell you that it's your fault that for not living in a concrete bunker.
None of those things are really like the others either, except that they are all still (lesser) crimes even if you're not successful.
> I would compare to chatting with someone and talking them into committing suicide. Wasn't there a court case about this a couple of years ago? This is something that is only considered a serious crime if it is successful. Otherwise, it's just being creepy and annoying, who would accept those calls/chats anyway.
Probably depends on the state. If it's a crime to convince someone to commit suicide, it's probably a crime to attempt to do so. In California, attempting a crime is a crime in itself.
> It's unfortunate that people accept and even love fundamentally unsafe designs of computer operation, where they are not in complete control of what their computer does, and then get upset when their computer does something quite actively opposite of what they wanted. This is inevitable! The biggest difference is in the prevalence.
"Fundamentally unsafe"? Unplug your computer if you want fundamentally safe. Otherwise you are always fundamentally unsafe. Access to your house is not "fundamentally safe", but if someone kicks in your door and barges in, few will tell you that it's your fault that for not living in a concrete bunker.