Microsoft: Sasser bounty hinges on conviction

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Should miscreants be rewarded for fingering others

Plea bargains are struck everyday in the US: "give us information and we'll reduce your sentence because you cooperated." Rarely, but occassionally these deals include a bye for passed crimes of the bargainee. Accused criminals make the deals not only because the deal is advantageous to them, but because the prosecutor can be counted upon to keep his word. If the prosecutor once reneged upon a plea agreement without just cause, word would quickly spread that any deal was worthless and farless accused would take the deals - preferring to take their chances with the jury.

Similarly, street informants may have a minour criminal problem. Officers might overlook their misdemeanour faults to gain information of felonies. All a matter of scale and recognizing what's important - ie: remove the most dangerous criminals, but recognize that some criminality will always exist. Pay the informant so long as the information remains good and ignore what small things he may have done, because society is being rewarded with the catch of bigger fish and thus made safer.

Let's be honest: who is likely to know virus writers? Answer: their fellow virus writers. If Microsoft denies a fellow virus writer the reward on the basis that he too is a virus writer, or the police investigate with an eye to convicting the informant, then the net result is that this will be the last such successful reward offer - at least insofar as a person with "good information" claiming the reward money. If the reward comes with the string attached of "we'll deny you the reward unless you to are squeaky clean", then, since no-one likely to know a virus writer is squeaky clean; no-one will step forward.

If we accept that those with the best information on accused felons are often felons themselves, then convicting the informant clears out only two felons. Arresting one and allowing the other to claim a reward though will eventually wipe out the virus community - especially if the informant keeps their role secret. What broke the mob? It wasn't the FBI so much as the paranoia the mob had to operate under because of unidentified informants in their midst.

Therefore, my advice to Microsoft: pay the informant. And to the German authorities: leave your informant alone until someone informs on him. Paranoia and the scent of money without strings will go further in breaking the wall of silence than arrests. A reward honestly offered will lead to far more convictions than convicting any single informant. Don't get greedy.

Conviction of one informant because they identified themselves by informing and the well of informants will quickly go dry. No information no matter how large the reward. The community of virus writers once again becomes insular and with no insiders to identify the structure; investigation will ultimately be less effective.

Posted by: John Le'Brecage   Posted on: 09/11/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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