The Morgan Doctrine

Thursday, September 18, 2025

Yesterday, my op-ed piece in TIME MAGAZINE went live.

Net-net: if H.R. 4988 becomes law, you will never receive another phishing or scam email.

Here's the link to my TIME MAGAZINE op-ed piece: https://time.com/7317012/can-cyber-privateers-combat-cybercrime/

Friday, August 22, 2025

Arizona Congresssman Must Have Read My Book, Proposes Cyber Privateering Law

H.R. 4988

Arizona Republican David Schweikert introduced the Scam Farms Marque and Reprisal Authorization Act of 2025 in the House of Representatives last week. If signed into law, it would give the US President a lot of leeway in issuing letters of marque to create an armada of internet privateers. Here's the story: UK Register Cyberprivateering Story

Saturday, August 16, 2025

My Nearly 19-Year-Old Dog is Still With Me, Thanks to Chiropractor Russ Harward

A couple years ago, my old dog Chenoa had a herniated disc, and the vet suggested we consider putting her down. In desperation, I called my bicycling buddy (we're done many thousands of miles together), a sports medicine chiropractor named Russ Harward. I asked him if he had any experience with animals, and he said he absolutely did.

Just one session with Russ and my sweet little girl walked perfectly. She's now almost 19 and doing well. Admittedly, I've anthromorphized her, making Chenoa the star of my sci-fi novel The Last Will & Testament of Harley and His Dog. I also gave her the title role in my Silver Award-winning short story, The Destroying Angel's Dog.

I'm glad she's still with me.

Friday, June 27, 2025

My Once-a-year Scam Email: "Pay me $1500 or I'll show you viewing porn to your friends."

I'm wondering how much these scams pull in. Since I've never in my long life even seen a porn site, I figured I'd share this crook's Litecoin wallet address:

ltc1qhx726s7mlnzfngmmt5u44ls7n5lch44z936lch

I used a crypto currency explorer to check the balance in this account, but the guy set it up just for this scam. Pretty smart. I'd send this to the FBI, but those folks are after bigger fish than this yokel.

Do me a favor. If you know this scammer, share that I got a good laugh, and that the user at mx.netsol.xion.oxcs.net with ESMTPS id 4bT9Dz39WhzqSNH should spend some time finding honest work.

Friday, May 9, 2025

Reminsing on How TIME MAGAZINE Changed My Life

I was sitting in my doctor's office and picked up the first issue of TIME MAGAZINE I'd seen in over 30 years. It got me pondering how that publication changed my life over 60 years ago. Enjoy

Background: Welcome black hats, white hats and cyber swashbucklers

The Revolutionary War was fought, financed, and pretty well WON by bonded privateers, legalized pirates who were given Letters of Marque and Reprisal by the Continental Congress and authorized to attack, capture and monetize British ships. The purpose of this site is to explore the possibility of a modern-day doctrine much like the Monroe Doctrine, by means of which the U.S. government could legally and, more importantly, effectively stop international hackers. Current cybercrime law is not only ineffective, but downright stupid. My Linux servers are attacked hundreds of times a day (mostly from China and former USSR domains), yet if I retaliate against those servers with some creative technology at my disposal (I know some VERY smart guys), then I am in violation of federal law and subject to some onerous penalties. We need more than a new law. We need a new international doctrine. I call it The Morgan Doctrine, named after Morgan Rapier, a fictional character I've created (hey, this is my way of establishing ownership of the concept, should it ever see the light of day).

Why a new international doctrine? Simply, nothing else will work. Introduced on December 2, 1823, the Monroe Doctrine told the world to keep their hands off the Americas. Combine this with current legal thinking on "hot pursuit" of fugitives. In 1917 the US Army went into Mexico after Pancho Villa. More recently, in 1960 Israeli Mossad agents abducted Adolf Eichmann from Argentina. Granted, much of the world regards the Eichmann adventure as a violation of international law. I don't share that opinion and therefore use it as the third leg of my Monroe-Pancho-Aldof platform for The Morgan Doctrine.

If someone comes into your home and attacks or attempts to rob you, you may shoot them dead. You may do so as long as they expire on your property. But what about cyber criminals? They attack you in your home from their homes. Retaliate in kind, and you go to jail. The Morgan Doctrine states simply that if you attack my computers (or my banking assets held in US-based computers), then under a certain set of well-defined conditions, a licensed and bonded "cyber privateer" may attack you in your home country and split the proceeds with the U.S. government. For the sake of argument, let's call it a 50-50 split (heh heh).

Right now, American law enforcement is completely unequipped to deal with the sheer number international cyber hackers. Sure, I could report each of the thousand daily attacks to the FBI, as could the millions of other attackees in the USA. But the volume of such reports would make any meaningful resolution laughable. Not to mention that the FBI has no jurisdiction outside the USA. Yet to make such "enforcement" profitable to recognized (ie, "bonded" "deputized") privateers, as Heath Ledger's Joker said in his last role, "Now you're talking!" You raid our bank accounts, we raid yours. You make money from off-shore child pornography, we're going to loot your bank accounts and, with some REALLY creative black hat operations, you will be taken off the grid worldwide to the extent that you'll not even complete a cell phone conversation for the remainder of your miserable depraved life. Okay, that last part probably won't fly, but you get my drift.

The purpose of this site is to explore the mechanics, legalities and practicality of The Morgan Doctrine.

And I will be the sole arbiter of whether or not your comments get posted. As Mel Brooks wrote, "It's good to be king."