It’s a nice thought and a reasonable gesture on Kim Dotcom’s part to essentially bribe hacker group Lizard Squad to stop attacking Xbox Live and PSN.

After all, it’s pretty awful to bring down video game networks over the holidays. One can assume that anyone playing video games online over Christmas (at least in the Western world) is either not interested in spending time with family or has no such luxury. Or maybe just has some extra holiday hours to catch up on some gaming. It’s fairly rotten to take that from people.

Still, I believe that not negotiating with terrorists is actually pretty sound policy. Lizard Squad isn’t a terrorist group, but they operate under similar (if far less destructive) principles. Here they’re bringing down major online networks for no other reasons than “teh lulz.”

And now maybe to get some Mega vouchers or other blood money, since that precedent has been set.

“Obviously, diplomacy works,” tweeted Dotcom. “I recommend that the U.S. Government gives it a try. #MakeLoveNotWar #UseMegaVouchers.”

But did it?

As Paul Tassi reported earlier, Lizard Squad already appears to have more than one “squad” active and Dotcom’s attempts to stave off the hackers haven’t necessarily worked as planned. Even if the attacks on Xbox Live and PSN do end completely, another target is surely on the horizon.

And there are other problems with rewarding bad behavior.

Paying off hackers who were in it for the laughs gives them extra motive to just keep doing what they’ve been doing. Yes, Dotcom said he’d cancel the vouchers if they kept up the attacks, but what if they spend them first? What if the hackers just start a second or third team or change their name? And bribery can inspire copycats.

I’m all for reasonable diplomacy—and Kim’s sentiment in regards to the US government is one I generally share—but negotiating with anonymous hackers is problematic. In this instance it’s just a couple video game networks brought down. In other instances, with more nefarious hackers, it could be far deadlier. We’ve seen the intimidation of movie theater chains recently, with threats of violence over Sony’s The Interview. However credible these were, it’s troubling to see businesses and individuals cowed by cyber attacks.

And it’s galling to see hackers rewarded for nothing more than interfering with other peoples’ fun. These aren’t wikileaks style truth-tellers or freedom fighters or whistle-blowers.

Of course, many will say that Microsoft and Sony should have better security for their networks. But a DDoS attack is difficult to counter no matter how secure a network is. Perpetuating and rewarding these actions, no matter how well intentioned, is the wrong move. Kudos to Kim Dotcom for having his heart in the right place.

But you know what they say about good intentions.

(Forbes)