Begin forwarded message:
From: Rahul Tongia <tongia@cmu.edu>
Date: July 11, 2009 3:49:18 AM EDT
To: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>
Subject: [ NNSquad ] Re: Dangerous ramblings from Malone
Reply-To: tongia@cmu.edu
Your post made me read his entire column.
The way his quote (excerpted below) reads is as if he is claiming there were millions of teenage, broadbanded, laptop users in N. Korea, who, his logic goes, clearly weren't spontaneously attacking other nations. Ergo, it's a state act. This is another blatant case of false dichotomies. Are there even that many broadband users in N. Korea? As you point out, it doesn't take a nation to coordinate an attack, just a bunch of coordinated machines. These could be anywhere.
India and Pakistan have had decades of rivalry in cyberspace (and the physical space). People I have talked to mention that there are many attacks on Indian govt. websites, far fewer on Pakistani. This is NOT (per private discussions) because of governmental policies per se but also because of the disaffected youth, who get implicit or tacit blessings only. In Pakistan, they have few outlets. In India, they can get a read job.
So, when any country's disaffected/misguided youth pull a stunt like this, at what point are we able to say the nation is to blame? The nation may enjoy the fruits, but they didn't do it directly...
Rahul