From:	woneal@*******.NET
Subject:	Re: Runner's Attitudes
Date:	Wed, 2 Jul 1997 15:25:51 -0005

On 30 Jun 97 at 16:24, Mike Nelson wrote:

>
> Allow me to illustrate this with an example:
>
> Roland the headless fuchi decker is a solid runner who has done
> several superlitive jobs for several of the megacorps. One day Roland
> makes a run on Renraku for Mitsuhama and steals some of Renraku's
> publicity plans for a new product release scheduled that year. Renraku is
> very unlikely to spend the time and resources neccessary to make Roland
> dissappear. The data he took was not irreplacable and to do so would
> cost them not only money but Roland's unique services in the future. Say
> however that whilst Roland was in the system he decides to crash a server
> that has several new products on it and represents thousands of man hours
> and millions of dollars. Now Rolands life is in a lot more risky
> position. Not only has he caused huge amounts of damage he has proven
> that he is not a professional and therefore of negligible future use.
>
>
Ah, the magic word "professionalism". That, to my mind, is a key
difference. The professional runner, is likely to be viewed by a corp as
a tool. The "punker" is a menace to society. I can easily see a corp
eliminating the "punker" on principle alone, after all, who knows what
kind of damage the punker my cause next, and for no particular reason.
The professional however is different. The professional is merely doing a
job, it's the employer that is the real problem.
This isn't to say that professionalism gives you a shield of
invulnerability. The target Corp will still do everything within it's
power to stop you. And even after you get away, if you haven't completed
your assignment, your still at risk. It's only *after* the professional
completes their assignment they gain that measure of safety. The point of
cost analysis being the primary reason for this.
--

Ashlocke
(woneal@*******.net)

"We shall never be able to remove suspicion and fear
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