NATO-Commissioned Report Says Killing Hackers Is Basically OK

[Magda Hassan]

NATO-Commissioned Report Says Killing Hackers Is Basically OK

Chris Mills - Gizmodo UK
Cyber-warfare is all well and civilized when it's confined to a tit-for-tat hacking of banks, but it's got the potential to spiral out of control real fast. To try and prevent that, and save the world from a hacked-WoW-account-induced apocalypse, NATO's comissioned a set of international laws to try and make cyber-warfare more…civilized.
Despite how it might seem, war's actually relatively civilized. Agreements like the Geneva Conventions and Ottowa Treaty lay down laws as to how warfare should be conducted - be nice to your prisoners and no blowing people up with landmines, for example - and the UN charter explains when war might be justified, say for self-defence. But none of those were written with cyber-warfare in mind, which is difficult when the Americans are going round hacking the Iranians, the Koreans are hacking each other and China's just hacking everyone.
In an attempt to make some sense of the mess, NATO (basically the Western powers-that-be) commissioned a report from a bunch of legal experts at the NATO Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence' to suggest some rules for cyber-warfare. Well, the report's in, and the suggestions are kinda surprising.
Basically, cyber attacks which cause "physical damage, injury or death" constitute a use of force', and thus can be retaliated to with real physical weapons. Equally surprising is the classification of civilian hacktivists as legitimate targets during war.
For those of us who aren't looking forward to WWIII, though, there is some good news. As with conventional warfare, there's a list of targets that's off-limits for cyber-warfare, including things like hospitals and nuclear power plants (oops, USA/Israel). Additionally, an attack originating in a country doesn't constitute proof for retaliation - there has to be proper evidence that the attack is the actual work of a government.
It's worth noting that these proposals aren't law - yet. At the moment, it's just a set of suggestions, but given the work that's gone into it, and the lack of sensible alternatives, something tells me that these suggestions' might get the global thumbs-up real soon. [CCDCOE via Guardian]

[Peter Lemkin]

I officially declare all powerful nations and their groupings, like NATO, insane, immoral and diabolically evil! So, they are going to go kill [with drones or soldiers, police, whatever] people who do denial of service attacks or download too many of something [like Swartz]?! Its all out war on everyone not in power.....the end IS near......its them or us!...or THE end! Basically, what they'd like in their fascist fantasy is not to have to bring to trial any 'hacker' or leaker or downloader they don't like....but kill 'em - boom! Some sinister world this has become....but their genocidal wars based on lies and profits; killing millions of innocents are just 'fine'....no trials needed there either...! Drones instead of courts....and innocents killed by accident all A-OK...its called fascism folks.....and its called all out war folks. WE, the PEOPLE, are the enemy. This of course, is NOTHING new, but it becomes increasingly transparant. They want to be able to kill without trial people like Aaron Swartz, like Bradley Manning, Like Julian Assange, like JFK, MLK, RFK and so many others - the list is endless; like those who participate in denial of service attacks on the real bad entities, or hack to find evil deeds, or whistleblow as Elsberg did and so many others, who speak out or demonstrate (like Occupy did) against the Empire (or challenenged it in any form) - from within or without - whether American citizen or World citizen, whether moral and legal right is on their side, whether the defense of necessity or the Nuremberg Principles would provice ample justifications for their actions - likely many other international and national laws and oaths of position, office and citizenship. Time to draw a line in the sand.....are we going to put up with what is not a creep, but an all out run toward a police state and out-and-out fascism? IMHO, there is not much more time to decide before you find a drone over your head just for thinking things in accord with this Forum or criticising what is going one. They want to label us all terrorists and thus, ipso facto targets for death without trial or imprisonment and/or toruture without trial. Guilty until the end of time...no trial needed. Hitler would have loved this. Shame on the USA and shame on NATO even thinking this, which I'm sure they will either approve openly or in secret [so much of our law [sic] now is secret law - so classified the citizen or their lawyers or their ''representatives"can no see the laws - ever. Its Hitler and Ghengus Khan meet the Mad Tea Party...but this is not funny. It is real and growing day by day. We need a new ''White Rose'" to fight this onslaught or we shall all be lambs to the slaughter sooner than most think....like less than a handful of years....if that many. Another '911' moment is planned and awaiting ímplimentation for the final coup de grace to what remains of our tatered democracies, constitutions, laws, international agreements and treaties and Natural and traditional Common Civil law dating back to the Magna Carta and before. You have been warned. Now organize, teach and resist or expect the fate of the original White Rose.......the drones, the militarized police, the electronic spy network, the camps, the secret laws are all in place.....the creep is now a sprint. If you can't see it now, you never will. American and European [and many other] democracies are near death....breathing their last and intent on wiping out the few countries that still practice it or entities within it that are not in line - yet. You think I exagerate?...just do nothing and wait...you won't have to wait long.