New article in Washington Post that just came out where the govt is increasing the punishment for convicted computer hackers.

Punishment will now fit the crime and there is no $5,000 damage threshold. In the past prosecutors had to show the criminal caused at least $5,000 in damage. They can now use costs of restoring data, fixing security holes, damage assessments and revenue loss into the total damage calc. Hmm.

I hope this helps cool the creation and distribution of malware some.
Since everyone here likes analogies this is what is going to happen..
Survival of the fitest. With this in place there will be less lamers writing virii(c/p code + modification)/Vrri toolkits. What will also happen is that the only people writing virii will be people who are so good at it that you will have incredibly large problems unless you develope a "vacine".

Bacteria A infects a town. The doctor uses penicillan and all is well. Unknown to him and the others though Bacteria B mutated into Bacteria AB, which is penicillan resistant... and this process continues. The fine will only deter skiddies, not hardcore blackhats. Sorry