Points on your Internet driver's license (was RE: Even you can be hacked)

Sat Jun 12 00:59:08 UTC 2004

> If your child borrows your credit card, and makes lots of unathorized
> charges, you may not have to pay more than $50; but the bank can go after
> your son or daughter for the money.  Most parents end up paying, even if
> they didn't authorize their children to use the credit card.

So the credit card company calls you and asks about a bunch of suspicious 
charges being placed on you card. Ok, just keep on charging. Now who's to 
blame for these charges by your sons and daughters and the russian mafia?

I sell a client a metered product (gas, water, electricity, telephone, 
internet data, etc). I notice unusually high consumption. I inform the 
client that the bill is accumulating rather quick and I suspect a problem. 
I have done my job. The client either tells me to stop delivery until the 
problem is diagnosed and resolved or tells me to continue service. Either 
way, the ball in in the clients court. If the client chooses continuation 
of service despite high consumption and subsequent huge bill he has an 
obligation to pay, no matter WHY the usage was to high.

Our society has a screwed up sense of responsibility. Everyone else is 
supposed to look out for me and take care of me. If something happens to 
me because I do something stupid or foolish someone failed to warn me, 
didn't make the sign big enough, didn't sound the horn loud enough, didn't 
lock me up so I couldn't hurt myself. This isn't true for everybody but 
way too many....

Adi