Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!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: <1991Jun16.214615.26789@athena.cs.uga.edu> Date: 16 Jun 91 21:46:15 GMT References: <1991Jun16.042916.15434@athena.cs.uga.edu> Organization: University of Georgia, Athens Lines: 61 In article rogue@cellar.UUCP (Rache McGregor) writes: >mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) writes: > >> (1) The suspension was imposed on him by a court of three of his >> fellow students; > >Since we've had discussions here before about the possible differences >between a jury of fellow citizens and a jury of one's peers, what was the >computer expertise of the three student judges? > Minimal, as far as I know. Both the prosecution and the defense had the opportunity to present the judges with written briefs on the relevant technical aspects. >> (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. >Pardon me if this has been asked before, but I believe we've all been >assuming that the cracker has no relationship to the University. What was >the relationship, if any, between the University and the cracker? Was [he] a >student? A former student or employee? What had [he] done while breaking >into the other system, and what measures are being taken against [him]? > I can't comment at this time; there is an ongoing investigation. >> 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. > >This is not to defend the student, but I'm of the "school" that if a student >is paying tuition, they're paying for the entire university, and that >anything (not underwitten by the defense department and requiring a security >clearnce) set up for student use should be open to all students. Tuition pays about 20% of the cost of running a state university. The rest is paid by the taxpayers. Anyhow, the student isn't paying for the whole computer, he's paying for HIS SHARE of it, and if he endangers data not belonging to himself, he has obviously overstepped the limits. Are all our student computers open to all students? Of course not. The chemistry department does not provide computers for the art department. All our computers are open to all students who fall into the category for which they were set up. > >Just out of curiosity, what's the facutly/student ratio of the sysadmins? > None of the sysadmins of athena.cs.uga.edu are faculty. One is a full- time staff member, and the rest, as best I understand it, are students. In the AI lab (aisun1.ai.uga.edu and its kin), there is one faculty sysadmin and four or five student sysadmins. -- ------------------------------------------------------- Michael A. Covington | Artificial Intelligence Programs The University of Georgia | Athens, GA 30602 U.S.A. -------------------------------------------------------