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Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!decuac!gouldsd!mjranum
From: mjranum@gouldsd.UUCP (Marcus J Ranum)
Newsgroups: news.misc,news.sysadmin
Subject: Re: Foothead, Foothead, on the net/Who's the biggest liar yet?
Message-ID: <493@gouldsd.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 20-Apr-87 09:38:10 EST
Article-I.D.: gouldsd.493
Posted: Mon Apr 20 09:38:10 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 21-Apr-87 00:36:52 EST
References: <1128@cartan.Berkeley.EDU> <1065@epimass.UUCP> <5553@eddie.MIT.EDU> <4510@utah-cs.UUCP>
Organization: Gould Electronics, Landover MD.
Lines: 36
Summary: yeah, buuuddy!
Xref: mnetor news.misc:289 news.sysadmin:125

In article <4510@utah-cs.UUCP>, cetron@utah-cs.UUCP (Edward J Cetron) writes:

> 	a) The lab was expecting a critical letter from an outside source
> (just so happened to be mit :-) )  and the student whose account it was to be
> sent to was gone for three days, so i monitored syslog until it arrived and
> pulled it out of his directory.  NOTE: this was lab business NOT personal mail
> and gov't contracting agencies wait for no man.

	What you are talking about here is a violation of Federal Law. Electronic
mail is protected under the same protection as the US Mail, despite the speed
difference !  It is legal for root to read a user's files, delete them, trash
an account, or even edit a user's files, but electronic mail is protected.
Note that net postings are not, since they are not addressed to an individual.
If you think I am talking through my hat about this, ask your lawyer. If you
are concerned about covering your ass as much as you seay, you'd think twice
before posting a public admission of guilt in a situation like this. Whether
it is LAB business OR personal mail would be irrelevant in the case that the
student chose to press charges - you'd have to be able to prove that you
KNEW it was addressed to other than him BEFORE you read it, AND then you'd
have to explain why it was mailed to her/his address. 

	Don't you know it's bad juju to read someone's stuff ?  From what I can
gather, though, if you have mailfiles owned by Oliver North it's okay to
give 'em out.

> -ed cetron
> Computer Services Manager
> Center for Engineering Design

Marcus J Ranum
news/uucp admin.
-- 
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