"I do it for the pleasure of creating something, seeing that it works, and making something that could really survive, spread, and hold its own in the wild. A virus is something that lives. In real life you can't make a kind of animal. You can in the computer. It's like playing God."

More here.

Wow what a f***ing idiot, cuz everytime a virus does go wide spread, you go wide spread to jail.

Please- this is the same mentality that writes "I luvs Rowmina" and "Guns -n- Roses Rulz!" on bridge overpasses. To attempt to intellectualize it into some altruistic persuit of AI is self-aggrandizememt of a most pathetic sort. Thievery I can understand- vandalism is just stupid.

I'm sure none of you have ever written dirty words on walls or sent {BAD WORD} to mailing lists/forums. Just as you trolls (you know who you are) get satisfaction from starting/feeding a flame thread the "idiots" get kicks from watching the AV alarms going off around the world. These virus writers are people who have the skills to do their thing in a more elaborate way.

And one shouldn't call virus writers idiots. Those who are cloning existing viruses undoubtedly have limited intellectual capabilities but some of the original viruses are masterpieces of programming. The people behind the successful worms are not idiots but very bright individuals who happen to have less social conscience.
Anyone who has gotten through his teen years knows that sometimes you don't give a damn about other people and all that matters is getting your ego acknowledged. For some of you it's not even "sometimes" (I'm not going to refer to some threads on this forum).

And you have double standards about vandalism. If you see a riot on the news you think "cool", "look at that car getting smashed", not "what idiots, they should go steal things instead of breaking stuff".

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Didou

- Post edited for language
Phantasm66

I never said they were idiots. I said what they are doing is stupid, no matter what level of expertise it requires. And I don't really believe that age is an excuse for this unless they are five years old- the ability to distinguish right from wrong should be well developed by the teen years and all excuses for angst aside, they are a-holes whinning for attention in a most juvenile way. Look at me!- I broke something!:knock:

PS- Way to drop the F-bomb!

Not true- I never said I condone thievery, its obviously wrong to steal anything, but a thief at least has a modicum of productivity in their activities- the redistribution of wealth!

Maybe virus writers should get their kicks by writing virii that benefit users, rather than cause damage. That way they can still get their kicks, and not have any bad conscience about what they are doing. Maybe write a virus that seeks out and eliminates spyware, and then gives the user some advice on protecting themselves. Now that would be something.

Most people wouldn't go out and smash someone elses car, just because they think seeing a car getting smashed is 'cool'. With virus writers, they are the ones doing the 'smashing'.

Many of us play games that involve 'smashing' things and even 'killing' things, but only evil psychotic idiots go out and actually do it for real.

Oh, and even though some virii may tend to make you believe that the programmer is a 'genius', that is only because you don't understand the thinking behind how they did it. Things that you don't understand always appear difficult.

If these programmers were really that good then they would be making lots of money by selling their skills, or writing quality software. Unfortunately, their skills often only cover a very small and limited specialisation and they aren't the 'hot' programmers you may believe them to be.

I'm sure if I spent several years studying hacking and virus writing, then I could be good at it, but it's not something I would invest time in. They should do something constructive if all they want is ego acknowledgment, and praise for their skills.

Anybody who tries to say that the only way they can get interesting programming puzzles to do is by writing virus code is talking BS.

There's no shortage of all sorts of interesting algorithmic problems out there, and the open source movement could sure use your help. Help write the next version of samba rather than the next "I love U" virus and I might just respect you.

If you want to get involved in some kind of artificial intelligence, then artificial neural networks have advanced a great deal in recent years and are very interesting topics, presenting challenges not just to the programmer but to the mathematician and the scientist. Go get a PhD in all that and tell me if you had time to be bored enough to write a virus - you kiddie.

But the worst kiddies are the ones that steal the code and then just blindly release it. Stupid little prats that don't even know how to code - they just know how to download files and steal things. You are going to jail, and they do things to weak boys in jail - was this what you wanted?

Releasing viruses isn't as bad as writing graffiti or stealing from shops - its worse. Any idiot can write their name on a wall but when a clever person who should know better acts in this immature and pathetic way it just makes me sick.

I absolutely agree with Nodsu.

This thread is getting very heated. I can say that the problem that virus makers have is the fact that they love "power". Power is the feeling that they are taking over computers, and playing God. Power is something that has ruined many lives, and killed others. It is almost like a natural human addiction in so many words.

my view of virus writers. they are wimpish cyber vandals. there are no different from the hooligan in the street, that would throw a rock through a window. only difference is, that cyber vandal does not possess the courage to do it openly. after using the word courage, it is used loosely and is misplaced in the street hooligan.

Something I've always wondered: would writing "kill *.*" in your Visual Basic code really remove all files? Or would you have to go "kill "C:\*.*""?

But yeah, there's tons of better ways to put intellectual skills to use, but anyway...

My view of virus writers is, people with too much time on their hands and no life.

Someone mentioned the need for power. Good point, but a weird kind of power, where you do not see or know your victims. A weird kind of power with no benefit or gain except some kind of self satisfaction.

Look at dictators; Stalin (when alive), Kim Jung-Il, Fidel Castro (is he alive ?).

not much more can be said.

yup, amen to that.
I mean what a pile of BS, i love watching things i created as well, whether it be scripts, GFX, 3D Models, or even my own computer (when it works xD), writing scripts for viruses/spyware/adware/malware should be just as illegal as vandalism or terrorism as they can be just as destructive to a computer as a hammer or a bucket of water.
I reckon 10 yrs + for creaters or malicious scripts, i've had to format countless times due to sticky spyware that i couldn't remove

cant agree with you on this one.
elaborate vandalism cannot be referred to as a masterpiece, nor can a person with a good education, and this type of application of their intelligence, be exempt from being referred to as an idiot.
people refer to criminals as idiots, and criminals is what they are, nothing less

How to start... I think-that creating viruses for malicious perposes is stupid. Actually I've have a few friends who right viral codes. Like the guy in the article said, you can't create a animal in real life. I like that, that is a smart statement.

I've never actually messes with hacking or any of that stuff, and I never plan to. I think creating viruses with the intent of malicous purposes is wrong.

The truth is though that these people are cowards. But they are smart, and are basically insane half the time. At least that is how my friend is.

Since this thread has obviously been targeted by spammers, I`m closing it for the time being.

Regards Howard