I truly believe that people who write viruses, trojans and similar things must start getting serious jail time. Regardless of age. if they are over 16, treat them like an adult and put them in jail; if they are under 16, put them in a youth facility and punish them by removing access to computers entirely, not just the net.

I'm not interested in what they claim their intent was. I'm not interested in their claims that they had no idea how much damage and loss it would create. First of all, to put it bluntly, those are simply lies. They know. You know they know. Let's stop kidding ourselves.

If I sneak into the subway system as a "lark", on a dare, or because I'm a sociopath and turn off the safety warning lights and cause two trains to crash; I will still be heal CRIMINALLY liable for the damage I cause and any loss of life or damage to the people involved. How is it different if I do the same thing by releasing a virus that knocks out the subway's warning light control system? What difference does that make to the people killed and injured in any resulting accidents?

What difference is there? None. Except that the person who creates or launches a virus is actually capable of causing far more damage then the person who just walks in and turns off a warning switch. In recent virus/trojan attacks multiple systems around the world have been damaged, knocked out, and corrupted. The dollar cost is often in the multi-millions. The costs to individuals in lost time and damaged equipment are massive and they are never reimbursed by any victims fund.

And that's what we are folks, make no mistake, we are the VICTIMS of these Cyber-Sociopaths. And as long as we don't put them in jail, they will continue to amuse themselves at our expense.

Put them in jail.