The growing war on hackers

America may finally be saying farewell to its long, failed War on Drugs, but that doesn't mean we can't have a long, failed war on something! How about hackers? Hanni Farouki writes that despite reforms to 80s-era computer misuse laws, prospects are grim: "The growing recognition of the powerful capabilities of modern computing and networking has resulted in a “cyber panic” in legislatures and prosecutor offices across the country. Instead of reexamination, we’ve seen aggressive charges and excessive punishment."