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: Student suspended for distributing /etc/passwd Message-ID: <1991Jun16.042916.15434@athena.cs.uga.edu> Date: 16 Jun 91 04:29:16 GMT References: <64655@bbn.BBN.COM> Distribution: na Organization: University of Georgia, Athens Lines: 27 I appreciate your concern that the student who was suspended cannot speak here to defend himself. However, let me point out that: (1) The suspension was imposed on him by a court of three of his fellow students; (2) At his hearing, he pleaded guilty and admitted knowing that he was sending /etc/passwd to someone who habitually tried to break into computers, and thereby facilitating a probable break-in. Computers at Georgia are not funded by student activity fees or lab fees. The main UNIX system was donated to the University by Sun Microsystems and is operated by the Department of Computer Science as a service to the University community. So this student is not being denied anything that he paid for. Finally, I reject the idea that the world divides sharply into "authorities" and "little guys." We're all computer users. Some of us are also sysadmins. Believe me, it was not just the sysadmins who were upset to find that /etc/passwd had been mailed out -- it was all the users who were knowledgeable enough to understand what this action meant. -- ------------------------------------------------------- Michael A. Covington | Artificial Intelligence Programs The University of Georgia | Athens, GA 30602 U.S.A. -------------------------------------------------------