Posted on 05/14/2021 6:52:04 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Congress should revive the ‘letter of marque’ and authorize companies to defend against hackers.
Today’s pirates sail the cyber seas searching for loot, by ransom or theft. Like their 19th-century maritime counterparts, they respect no sovereignty and disrupt commerce and daily life. This weekend’s Colonial Pipeline hack and the recent SolarWinds attack demonstrate the growing danger and sophistication of such assaults. Like the Barbary pirates, hackers frequently receive haven or direct support from hostile states like Russia or China.
Historically, such letters provided financial incentives to overcome fear and inaction in the face of dangerous outcomes and national need. On the high seas, they assured standing and rights in admiralty courts that awarded “prize money” when pirate ships were sunk or captured.
We haven’t had a cyber Pearl Harbor, but today’s threat from hackers could become as dangerous as enemy submarines.
... Enlist private corporations to serve as our cyber scouts just as the Resolute searched for hidden dangers in an earlier time of global upheaval and uncertainty.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
I’m glad to see this getting aired in the WSJ. More people need to understand the concept of Letters of Marque that is embedded in the Constitution. It completely backs up the idea that the citizenry has a right to own serious armaments.
Full TXT:
https://archive.vn/eMLM9
Now if we can still find a copy of the U.S. Constitution in Washington DC, or enough patriots in Congress (yes, that is getting close to an oxymoron) to issue letters of marque.
“Argh, matey. It’s Ann from Visa-Mastercard Account Services on the ‘orizon.”
A fun comment from the site.
Ping.
For one thing, we live in an age where we are exposed to something that the founders of this country never envisioned simply because it was physically impossible at the time: an attack on the infrastructure of this country that is carried out by an "adversary" who never sets foot inside our borders.
Another issue is that the culprits in a "piracy" case like this aren't necessarily acting on behalf of any government or organized faction within a foreign country. Under the U.S. Constitution, letters of marque and reprisal are supposed to be war powers, not law enforcement measures.
I have had an entirely different view for several years.
It began with the linking together of power companies and called the grid.
We are making a huge mistake in allowing dependence on a very limited number of sources for essential items.
I recognize the advantages of Colonial Pipeline. Cost, safety and volume makes it the preferred method.
However, our grandparents used to warn us regularly not to put all of our eggs in one basket.
This nation should form a policy setting limits on volume for any single method of transportation of liquid energy...so much for pipelines so much for rail and so much for trucks. 50/25/25 as an example.
Maybe two or more separate pipelines with the requirement that they cn not have any commonality in operation, although they could be owned by the same company.
We are doomed to have more and possibly much worse incidents of this kind if we continue to operate super big systems.
Think about what we would suffer if the hackers decided not to talk to us until 2022. Or some foreign nation said never.
I have trouble thinking of a punishment for cyber-terrorists that is severe enough. Maybe public execution consisting of slowly tearing off strips of skin and salting the wounds, until they beg to be killed, and then drive a stake through their heart.
Sell admission/viewing tickets, with the proceeds going toward better infrastructure security.
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