> If I leave my door unlocked can I really blame <bad person> for opening my door and robbing me?
Sure you can! Robbing is not something that happens by accident, and neither is hacking. I agree that the US should invest heavily in improving security, but taking the view that "pfff, who cares who did it!" is a terrible idea.
> I don't deserve any blame if someone broke down my front door to do it.
I mean, you could have gotten a more sturdy door... drawing the boundary between someone opening an unlocked door and breaking down the door is hard; so I'd agree with "even less blame", but if we believe you are ever at blame here, there isn't anything magical about the lock that shifts you from having blame to being blameless.
> What if I always lock my front door, but this morning I was in a hurry and forgot? Should I give up all rights of private property because of this error?
You and me would both be alarmed if someone entered our house after we forgot to lock the door, but I wouldn't consider that persons entry into my house a crime in itself (obviously, its probably still a crime whether I agree or not). Do you forfeit rights to your private property for forgetting to lock your door? Not at all. If you wake up in the middle of the night and someone is in your house, and you shoot them, you did nothing wrong. Whether or not you locked the door, your life is at risk if you assess the situation incorrectly (goes for daytime too). When that person entered into somebody else's house uninvited, they made a decision to subject themselves to your discretion.
> If they took anything, it would still be stealing--even though one could argue that if I "really" didn't want anyone to take my stuff, I would have locked my door.
They would be wrong telling you that you forfeited your rights to your belongings for not locking your door. If that were the case, nobody would be obligated to pay for anything at the grocery store or mall.
> Should the rights of people and companies be completely dependent on their ability to write invulnerable code?
It is up to you to defend your rights, nobody else. If you are going to offer a service and want to protect the server, data, code, licenses, etc.. the burden is on you to protect it through whatever means you see fit. It is no one else's job to protect your product.
> I would submit that that is not a sustain way for the law to operate.
The reason for that may be because we shouldn't rely on the law to prevent a crime aside from being a visible deterrent. The purpose of law should be to enforce civil agreements when a crime is committed. If someone causes financial damage to your property, what good does it do to put that person in jail? Wouldn't a better solution be to have your property returned or receive financial compensation equivalent to the value of what was taken/damaged?
> If you left your front door wide and were robbed the public would have 0 sympathy for you
Not sure where you live for that to be the case, but someone coming in because I left my door open is not normal, even if I left my door open. Even if they claim they were "making sure everything was safe".
> Yet if some brick-and-mortar business is robbed because the owner left the front door unlocked, people would rightfully put the onus mostly on the store owner.
No, there were days when people did not even lock their cars and their houses (but maybe you are too young to have known that time where you live) because it was not expected that anyone would actually rob anything. Especially in communities where everyone knew everyone else. And if a robbery happened, the blame would still have been put on the thief, not the owner.
>So is a thief who walks through a door carelessly left unlocked "accessing it exactly in the way it was intended." It's what he does afterwards that makes the difference.
If he takes some pictures and leaves he certainly isn't guilty of breaking and entering.
> There are still places where people don’t lock doors because they don’t need to.
Yep. I grew up not ever locking our doors, and I still don't. I even usually leave the keys in my cars in the driveway, especially in the one that the neighbors all know they can borrow if needed. I do have a dog who will bark when anybody unknown approaches the house, though.
When I lived in the city for a few years, I did lock my doors, but I left my car unlocked. I would relatively frequently come out to the car in the morning and it was obvious that somebody had rummaged around in it. But I didn't really care, and it was better than having the windows smashed, which did happen in that neighborhood.
For many people, there's no need to unlock the front door because it's never locked. Having to lock your door just means you're living in a terrible neighborhood.
> If you randomly try my front door and find that it's unlocked, don't expect me to be thanking you.
Why? If someone tries my front door, doesn't go in but confirms that it is unlocked by opening it by an inch (=verifies the DB credentials but doesn't run any queries) without really peering into my private spaces, then privately reaches out with "hey, hey, your door is not locked - I haven't went in but I know it's unlocked, you may wanna look into this" then I imagine while that could be odd situation (e.g. depending on whenever one has a lawn), I would be grateful and not in the least bit offended.
Surely, I wouldn't be happy if I'd get an alarm that my door is suddenly open (IDS alert) and would react accordingly. But if my door is not locked and I'm not aware and someone responsibly discloses this - I don't see how that'd be an issue.
> But attacking the lock is the last thing a smart or determined person will do.
I think that is contextual. In a whole lot of apartment buildings, the windows into the apartment are inaccessible from the outside. The door frame is metal, so kicking down the door would wake half the apartment building. Without a lock on the door, anybody who got into the building (generally easy) could silently enter any unoccupied apartment and nobody would know it. But with a good lock, nearly every would-be thief who can't pick locks will go someplace else.
> If I leave the door of my house open, and someone enters and steals my tv, it's my fault.
Seeing a public calendar is equivalent to seeing into your neighbours house because they left the front door open. Not stealing your damn tv. Stealing the tv is clearly theft. Only your overlords at the insurance company would ever try to claim it’s your fault for someone stealing your stuff.
Yes, you can and should.
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