The Wild Wild Web

Is retaliation the answer to cyber attacks?  Sometimes.  If someone steals my TV then I have a right to get that TV back and society has a right to impose a negative penalty on the thief.  When society has the power to impose that negative penalty then there is no call for vigilateism.  However, we live in a time where jurisdictions are plentiful and overlapping, and many digital crimes can be broken into many pieces, each of which is legal somewhere.  Where do you turn for protection when global network connections stitch together the weakest pieces of each legal system?  How do you gain recompense when no single authority can right, or even prevent, the wrong?  Sometimes you can't. When there is an assurance that an attacker will not relent, and there is no assurance of defense from anyone with authority, then we, as humans, are inherently endowed with the authority to defend ourselves from current, and all future attacks.