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From: mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: How secure should computers be?
Summary: A curious switch in public opinion...
Message-ID: <1991Jun18.044351.8369@athena.cs.uga.edu>
Date: 18 Jun 91 04:43:51 GMT
References: <1991Jun12.141657.29238@athena.cs.uga.edu> <1991Jun12.211143.18803@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> <18278@venera.isi.edu>
Organization: University of Georgia, Athens
Lines: 19

It has been claimed repeatedly here in the last few days that sysadmins
have a duty to make their computers as secure as possible.

Well, back in pre-UNIX days, computers _were_ secure, and serious
programmers (the kind of people who hang out here) didn't like it.
You couldn't see any files other than your own... you couldn't run
a process in the background... and so on.

The notorious "insecurity" of UNIX is _versatility_. 

I'm amused that the same kind of people who hated secure operating
systems when they had them, now claim operating systems should be
more secure.

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