A few thoughts on Kaspersky...
Tuesday December 6, 2005
Perhaps I just hadn't had enough coffee when I read Kaspersky's "A few thoughts on virus writing...". So I re-read it a few times, walked away, came back, read it again. And no matter how many times I read it, I can't shake the feeling that Kaspersky is not-so-subtly encouraging kids to write viruses.
In the post, Eugene Kaspersky (founder of Kaspersky and Head of Kaspersky Lab Virus Research) complains, "teenagers don't have time for writing viruses - they're busy playing online games." He follows that up with, "In moving out of this world, they stopped training their brains by developing their own virtual creatures - now they're lost in the virtual underworld of online computer games."
As an antivirus professional, I'm appalled. As a parent, I am angry. And I'm not sure which part I am angrier about - that he's sending a subtle call to arms to teens to write more of what he calls 'true viruses', or that he's taken the condescending tone that today's kids are "lost in the virtual underworld of online computer games".
My son and several of his friends are avid gamers. I'm one, too. We've hosted many LAN parties and I've sometimes joked that our house is the equivalent of a crack den for gaming addicts (minus the crack, of course). But they are also working hard on their school work, doing community service, holding down jobs, playing paintball on weekends or parkour, taking camping trips, visiting university campuses, having girlfriends or boyfriends. In other words, they have busy, active and productive lives which can be described as anything but "lost in the virtual underworld of online computer games".
They aren't "lost" - they are busy blazing new trails and navigating paths that didn't even exist a generation ago. Rather than adopting a condescending tone, perhaps it might be beneficial for Kaspersky to get to know today's kids and appreciate the valuable contribution they are making to society.
If kids today aren't writing viruses, it's likely because today's kids are compassionate enough to recognize the human consequences and smart enough to recognize the legal consequences. And where's the appeal, anyway? Computers are no more mysterious to them than common household appliances like the microwave. They have many more things happening in their lives to keep them engaged and intellectually challenged. And writing viruses, frankly, can hardly be described as "training their brains".
This is the second off-the-wall post I've seen from Kaspersky in the last couple of weeks. The first one, "The contemporary antivirus industry and its problems", seemed to be less of an honest appraisal of the industry and more of a couple of cheap shots wrapped in a marketing ploy to promote the never-before-heard-of "Test Lab at Moscow State University". It seemed a bit tacky and out of character for Eugene Kasperksy, but now that I've read his second post, I'm not so sure.
In the post, Eugene Kaspersky (founder of Kaspersky and Head of Kaspersky Lab Virus Research) complains, "teenagers don't have time for writing viruses - they're busy playing online games." He follows that up with, "In moving out of this world, they stopped training their brains by developing their own virtual creatures - now they're lost in the virtual underworld of online computer games."
As an antivirus professional, I'm appalled. As a parent, I am angry. And I'm not sure which part I am angrier about - that he's sending a subtle call to arms to teens to write more of what he calls 'true viruses', or that he's taken the condescending tone that today's kids are "lost in the virtual underworld of online computer games".
My son and several of his friends are avid gamers. I'm one, too. We've hosted many LAN parties and I've sometimes joked that our house is the equivalent of a crack den for gaming addicts (minus the crack, of course). But they are also working hard on their school work, doing community service, holding down jobs, playing paintball on weekends or parkour, taking camping trips, visiting university campuses, having girlfriends or boyfriends. In other words, they have busy, active and productive lives which can be described as anything but "lost in the virtual underworld of online computer games".
They aren't "lost" - they are busy blazing new trails and navigating paths that didn't even exist a generation ago. Rather than adopting a condescending tone, perhaps it might be beneficial for Kaspersky to get to know today's kids and appreciate the valuable contribution they are making to society.
If kids today aren't writing viruses, it's likely because today's kids are compassionate enough to recognize the human consequences and smart enough to recognize the legal consequences. And where's the appeal, anyway? Computers are no more mysterious to them than common household appliances like the microwave. They have many more things happening in their lives to keep them engaged and intellectually challenged. And writing viruses, frankly, can hardly be described as "training their brains".
This is the second off-the-wall post I've seen from Kaspersky in the last couple of weeks. The first one, "The contemporary antivirus industry and its problems", seemed to be less of an honest appraisal of the industry and more of a couple of cheap shots wrapped in a marketing ploy to promote the never-before-heard-of "Test Lab at Moscow State University". It seemed a bit tacky and out of character for Eugene Kasperksy, but now that I've read his second post, I'm not so sure.
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