Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!emory!athena.cs.uga.edu!mcovingt From: mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: Should we let students run COPS to get each other's passwords? Message-ID: <1991Jun13.042534.16952@athena.cs.uga.edu> Date: 13 Jun 91 04:25:34 GMT References: <1991Jun12.140419.28896@athena.cs.uga.edu> <1991Jun12.141657.29238@athena.cs.uga.edu> <1991Jun12.211143.18803@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> Organization: University of Georgia, Athens Lines: 42 In article <1991Jun12.211143.18803@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> gl8f@astsun7.astro.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl) writes: >In article <1991Jun12.141657.29238@athena.cs.uga.edu> mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) writes: > >>A few people here have been advocating the strange idea that UNIX users >>have a moral right to obtain each other's passwords using COPS. I have a few >>responses... > >I'd like to point out that this isn't my point at all; rather, I've >been trying to say that the illegal act here is breaking into a >system. Mr. Covington seems to have lost sight of this. -- Or facilitating a break-in by others. > >I've also been saying that a responsible sysadmin should close obvious >holes. -- I agree. -- What YOU have lost sight of is that no computer will ever be perfectly free of security holes. >Mister Covington seems to think this is a blame-the-victim >mentality. -- Only when people take it to the extreme of saying that if a system has holes, people shouldn't be punished for exploiting those holes. And this is a very common attitude. -- My point is extremely simple: honest people don't even TRY to break into other people's accounts or obtain passwords without authorization. Security holes or not! -- ------------------------------------------------------- Michael A. Covington | Artificial Intelligence Programs The University of Georgia | Athens, GA 30602 U.S.A. -------------------------------------------------------