We have seen the scale of destruction a Botnet can cause. However, can botnets be ever used for doing good Karma ?
In this age, we find lots of corporate entities who will donate a particular sum / amount for a social cause. These campaigns are put into effect using the social media platform and these campaigns are basically used to garner public support and for enhancing the brand-image.
Be it twitter or FaceBook, we find lots of organizations requesting their users to “RT” , “Like” , “Share” the post/tweet related to their social cause. Nothing wrong in supporting a Social Cause, infact I too would RT a tweet couple of times, after all whats the harm? The more the RTs / Likes/Shares , the more is the amount to be donated and that too all for a Good Cause.
So where is the catch? Whatif a botmaster has a change of heart and decides that its now time to do some good things in life – enough of this DDOS and SPAM ; deciding to send a million RTs/Likes/Shares.
A few months ago we had seen hackers , hacking into web-wallets and transferring all the user’s funds to some social cause or the other. However, since, the transaction was against the will of the account holder, the entire transactions were termed to be illegal – Fair enough.
The First question which pops-up into my mind is : What would happen when a BotMaster redirects his botnet for a social cause?
Would this act be considered illegal?
We have to consider the fact that the Botmaster simply utilised his resources with a clear understanding that every RT is for a Social Cause and he is not going to derive any financial benefit. When we fight legal battles, proving the intention is of prime importance and in this case, Botmaster has the purest of the pure intentions . Also one has to consider the fact that “please RT/Share/Like” was an open invitation sent by the Corporate Entity to all the netizens.
Every country has a different law/view to tackle the incidents happening in Cyber-Space , and the question : How would the law be applied in this scenario ?
Would the Corporate Entity stick to its promise and execute the Donate-per-RT/Like/Share promise or would it refer to the fine-print or what would it do?
Questions are many , answers are few.
