Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!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: <1991Jun14.193545.24869@athena.cs.uga.edu>
Date: 14 Jun 91 19:35:45 GMT
References: <15013@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> <1991Jun13.042115.16845@athena.cs.uga.edu> <1991Jun14.053131.753@metapro.DIALix.oz.au>
Organization: University of Georgia, Athens
Lines: 22

In article <1991Jun14.053131.753@metapro.DIALix.oz.au> bernie@metapro.DIALix.oz.au (Bernd Felsche) writes:
>In <1991Jun13.042115.16845@athena.cs.uga.edu>
>   mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) writes:
>
>>(2) I stick to my guns. Running a password guesser is inappropriate
>>behavior because it involves access to other people's confidential
>>information. The encrypted password is world readable; the password
>>itself is not; that's why it's encrypted!
>
>Running a guesser is not breaking confidentiality. If I guessed that
>you had red hair, never having seen you, and found out that you did
>indeed have red hair, then I would not be breaking confidentiality,
>even if you do wear a hat all the time.

Balderdash.  Information obtained by trial-and-error is still information!


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Michael A. Covington | Artificial Intelligence Programs
The University of Georgia  |  Athens, GA 30602   U.S.A.
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