Ms. M: Come now.... He'd be far from the first trusting person on the internet to believe that if he puts a service up there no-one will abuse it.....
The whole point really is that this is no different to any of the other shooting ranges in the world nor is it's future intent any different from any of the "ranches" that have been in existence for years, (except possibly it might allow some people to do something, (legal), they want to but are unable to do without such assistance).
JP got his knickers in a bunch without thinking about the concept as a whole, (probably, as he likes to keep telling us, because he once knew a police officer who therefore must know something about weapons). Hack the computer all you like.... I'll guarantee that the equipment holding the rifle has physical stops in both elevation and bearing. I know for a fact that the weapon has a safety catch and a removable magazine and I know for a fact that the actuators required to move the equipment and fire the weapon require their own power supply independent of the PC. So hack away.... The computer can only fire when it is allowed to by the human being that is stood there managing it.
Guns are not the problem..... People are the problem.... I handled a _really_ big gun, (7.62 long), almost every day for 5 years and never caused any harm that I wasn't legally allowed to cause with it and never had an ND, (Negligent Discharge).
As far a computer security goes this subject is less relevant than phishing.....and thank you for moving this dross to Cosmos where it belongs....
