Newsgroups: comp.admin.policy
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bloom-picayune.mit.edu!athena.mit.edu!purdon
From: purdon@athena.mit.edu (James R. Purdon III)
Subject: Footnote to user who mailed /etc/passwd
Message-ID: <1991Jun27.183621.14667@athena.mit.edu>
Sender: news@athena.mit.edu (News system)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 91 18:36:21 GMT
Lines: 42

As you may all recall, recently there was an posting describing a student
who was suspended for mailing the /etc/passwd file of athena.cs.uga.edu
to another individual who was going to run a password guesser against it.

In the posting, mention was made of the Georgial law against computer
fraud and abuse, which was claimed to be strict and in the process of
being made more strict.

To me, the article seemed to indicate two things:

a. Either email or terminal sessions were logged and read as a matter of
   course, without prior suspicion of wrong doing.

b. The mention of Georgia law, rather than UGA policy, meant that UGA
   did not have a clearly stated policy regarding computer use.

In response, I wrote a posting of a critical nature.  In my opinion, the
Georgia law is too broad to be good policy.  In my posting, I printed
the output of a "finger @athena.cs.uga.edu" and pointed out that because
I had not been explicitly authorized by UGA to use their machine in this
fashion, that I could be charged with a felony under Georgia law.

After my posting, I received a private communication from a person at UGA
asking that I reconsider my posting, because of certain statements that
were made by the student at his hearing, which indicated the student's
intent was not innocent.

Well, I still think its wrong to routinely log and review the contents of
terminal sessions and email without prior suspicion and without informing
users that a policy of routine logging and review is in effect. 

Today I noticed that athena.cs.uga.edu is no longer responding to finger
requests.  While I know there are security issues regarding fingerd, I
wonder if my posting had anything to do with it...

Or maybe its just a temporary aberation.

--

Jim

Once I was a fetus.  Now I am a person, and a married person as well.