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First-up, let's talk about Shane Atkinson, the Christchurch man who claims to now be an ex-spammer.

What was it that turned Shane away from a life of scams and spams?

Was it a sudden attack of conscience? The realisation that he was adding to a problem that annoys the snot out of virtually all Net users? A desire to earn his money in a more ethical manner? The threat of possible legal action by the Commerce Commission?

Well if you believe Shane himself, it was several things -- including the fact that his own email address had been subscribed to numerous spam-lists and was thus being flooded with unwanted email.

In response to this the terrible deluge of spam that Shane must have been receiving I can only say: "If you don't want to receive spam, don't connect to the internet, or don't have an email address."

Let he who lives by the sword, die by the sword.

But what about those who took their hate of spam a little further by (Shane claims) making threatening or obscene phone calls to him and his children?

Well that type of action can't be sanctioned, no matter how much you despise spam and spammers. However, don't forget that spammers are the folks who also send *your* kids emails containing explicit pornography and solicitations to visit adult websites. Shane chose to join the ranks of the world's spammers so although it can't be sanctioned, it's not surprising that he got this type of response from some of the more extreme anti-spammers.

And secondly...

I think it's about time that Microsoft got into the genetically engineered computer virus game.

The events of last week proved conclusively that simply asking people to patch their bug-ridden copies of Windows so as to secure them against virus or worm attack doesn't work.

So why doesn't Microsoft get smart and write its own worms/viruses whenever a major security flaw is uncovered?

Such a worm would be designed to do nothing more than fix the hole and then search out other computers that are still vulnerable.

This isn't my idea -- there was a benevolent GM computer virus written to automatically patch the hole that was exploited by the Code Red worm and now I see that the same has been done to address the one on which MSBlaster relies.

It's a great idea. And, if people object wildly about the prospect of any worm (even one from Microsoft) infecting their machines (even if it's for their own good) then all they have to do is ensure they apply the patches as they're released.

Come on Microsoft -- your software is now a critical component of the Western World's infrastructure. You have an obligation to ensure that all security holes are fixed ASAP and if the only way to ensure this is to use a benevolent worm then do it.

If any Aardvark readers want to share an opinion on today's column or add something, you're invited to chip in and have your say in The Aardvark Forums or, if you prefer, you can contact me directly.

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