Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!haven.umd.edu!mimsy!mojo!russotto From: russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto) Newsgroups: comp.admin.policy Subject: Re: Possibly nefarious users Message-ID: <1991Jun12.203450.3128@eng.umd.edu> Date: 12 Jun 91 20:34:50 GMT References: <1991Jun7.164102.672@progress.com>> <1991Jun10.052806.4214@qiclab.scn.rain.com> Sender: news@eng.umd.edu (C-News) Organization: College of Engineering, Maryversity of Uniland, College Park Lines: 22 In article <1991Jun10.052806.4214@qiclab.scn.rain.com> 70465.203@compuserve.com writes: >adrianho@barkley.berkeley.edu (Adrian J Ho) writes: > > >>IMHO, unless a "guest" account user is notified somehow (eg. >>/etc/motd) that "this account is _only_ for use by faculty in Uni. of >>X", you don't have a case against anyone outside the U. using the same >>account, since the scope of "legal use" was not made known to him/her. > >No. The law is exactly the opposite. Unless *you* know that the account >is for general access, you do not have the right to use it. There are >legitmate reasons for having a "guest" account (with no password) on a >system. But just as with an unlocked door, *you* are not the person >it was left unlocked for. I don't suppose you can quote the law? (For computers, not for illegaly entry of a residence. BTW, it isn't illegal to enter an unlocked commercial office building....) Is it the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 198x (the one Morris was convicted on?) -- Matthew T. Russotto russotto@eng.umd.edu russotto@wam.umd.edu .sig under construction, like the rest of this campus.