Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!lavaca.uh.edu!nntppost
From: jet@karazm.math.uh.edu (J. Eric Townsend)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Questions caused by Rose's recent arrest
Message-ID: <1990Oct28.000810.12135@lavaca.uh.edu>
Date: 28 Oct 90 00:08:10 GMT
Sender: nntppost@lavaca.uh.edu (NNTP Posting Service)
Organization: University of Houston -- Department of Mathematics
Lines: 37


The Len Rose article brings to mind a couple of questions:

1. Is running su(1) on a UNIX machine where you aren't allowed root illegal?
   Having owned or managed a UNIX machine for almost 4 years now, it's
   second nature for me to su and go do something I can't do as "me". (Like
   write files in a directory I don't own.)  Quite often, while showing a
   fellow student how to do something (but using *MY* account), I try to
   copy something into their directory.  When I get a fail, I try to su to
   root, usually before I remember that I'm not allowed root access on
   whatever machine I'm on.

   Is this a crime?  I'm really not trying to crack root, but it sure
   looks that way when I do it once or twice a day.  "Whoops, I
   accidentally broke into your house.  See, I thought I was at my house,
   and I've lost my keys, so I was just going to force a window."
   (Luckily, I know the administrators, and they believe that I'm not
   trying to crack their system.  If I wanted to do that, I'd turn
   on my parallel webster code... (*))

2. What about using a friend's account with their permission?  Obviously
   this is not my "property" -- I'm using someone else's allocation of
   cycles -- but I do have their permission.  Is it still gaining access
   to data or information that I don't own? (If someone lets me use
   an account on a system that requires a governmental clearance, I
   think there could be some problems.)

Anybody have any comments?


(*) -- Various ways to disable or break into a machine via this method
       are left as an exercise for the reader.
--
J. Eric Townsend     Internet: jet@uh.edu    Bitnet: jet@UHOU
Systems Manager - University of Houston Dept. of Mathematics - (713) 749-2120
EastEnders list: eastender@karazm.math.uh.edu
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