Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!cunixf.cc.columbia.edu!cs.columbia.edu!abrams From: abrams@cs.columbia.edu (Steven Abrams) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: Student suspended for distributing /etc/passwd Message-ID: Date: 18 Jun 91 21:28:43 GMT References: <1991Jun18.035216.7555@athena.cs.uga.edu> <0aNq42w164w@cellar.UUCP> <1991Jun18.165528.19569@athena.cs.uga.edu> Sender: news@cs.columbia.edu (The Daily News) Organization: Columbia University Department of Computer Science Lines: 99 In-Reply-To: mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu's message of 18 Jun 91 16:55:28 GMT I really hate to do this, but I'm fed up with this thread. There are only a few facts of relevance in this entire affair. 1) Student knew a cracker. 2) Student knew cracker was going to attempt to crack the UGa computers. 3) Student gave cracker /etc/passwd to help him or her crack the UGa computers. If the student offered /etc/passwd or responded to a request for /etc/passwd is a subtle point, but for the purposes of this discussion, all that is relevant is that the student knew that /etc/passwd would help the cracker and that the student gave it. We now have a simple case of aiding and abetting. In fact, it does not even matter if the crack was ever attempted; the student played an active role in assisting what was believed to be an attempted crack of UGa's computers. This was not a case of a student running COPS to check the security of the system. This was not a case of a student attempting to learn more about Unix or computers in general by hacking or cracking. This was a case of a student actively forwarding a crackers efforts at cracking the UGa system. Punishment is certainly in order. Arguments of the form ``Here's my /etc/passwd entry: Crack me!'' have no place here. Persons who post this information are obviously confident of the security of their password. That's their choice. The student in question did not say, ``Please notify me if you wish your /etc/passwd entry included in the list I am mailing to a cracker.'' The student just gave them out. There are net.people who are on their high moral horses about "Institutes of Higher Education" and how everything that takes place within those hallowed halls should be a learning experience. Maybe so, but there are cases where punitive measures are in order, as well as cases where the learning experience may need to be intimately connected with the punishment. The student may truly not realize how wrong this action was. If the punishment were help desk duty, community service, or some other primarily educational task, the student would not learn the severity of the offense; instead the student might learn how easy it is to manipulate the system to avoid punishment, or (worse) that a breach of computer security is less of an offense than a breach of any other type of security. Regardless, let me ignore the discussion on the severity of the punishment for now, as this is (I understand) being appealed by the student. All those who believe that this incident should go unpunished, or that the powers that be are flexing their neanderthal muscles by finding a poor helpless student guilty of an offense that is not really an offense, or all those that are ranting and raving over limiting access to campus computers (when such access is, as I understand it, being provided to the campus as a service of the CS department), need to get a grip on reality. If you're busy arguing about the fairness of a student judiciary committee, or of the administrative's totalitarian attitude, or convicting people without evidence, then guess what. You're convicting the administration based solely on your conjecture and your generalization of all such administrations. No due process, no innocent until proven guilty. In other words, you are guilty of the offense you accuse others of. I have noticed a long time ago that the ranters and ravers of this world (well, at least this net) are correct with a probability inversely proportional to their rant:reason ratio. I have seen very little in the way of reason directed against Michael Covington. And he has maintained diplomacy and poise in the face of inanitiy and flames. I congratulate him for this. Most of his net adversaries on this issue can not compete with him on this matter. Please note that I have no connection whatsoever with UGa, Michael Covington, the student in question, or the cracker. ~~~Steven /************************************************* * *Steven Abrams abrams@cs.columbia.edu * **************************************************/ #include #include -- /************************************************* * *Steven Abrams abrams@cs.columbia.edu * **************************************************/ #include #include