TY  - JOUR
AB  - Private persons and entities are increasingly adopting aggressive “active defense” measures (i.e., “hack back”) against Internet‐based attacks that can infringe the rights of innocent persons. In this paper, I argue that aggressive active defense cannot be justified by the Necessity Principle, which defines a moral liberty to infringe the right of an innocent person if necessary to achieve a significantly greater moral good. It is a necessary condition for justifiably acting under an ethical principle that we have adequate reason to believe its application‐conditions are satisfied. Since, absent special knowledge, the victim of a hacker attack will not be able to reliably predict the direct or indirect consequences of aggressive countermeasures, she lacks adequate reason to think that those measures will achieve a good that significantly outweighs the evil that is done to innocent parties.
VL  - 2
IS  - 1
SN  - 1477-996X
DO  - 10.1108/14779960480000241
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/14779960480000241
AU  - Einar Himma Kenneth
PY  - 2004
Y1  - 2004/01/01
TI  - Targeting the innocent: Active defense and the moral immunity of innocent persons from aggression
T2  - Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 31
EP  - 40
Y2  - 2024/04/18
ER  -