Xref: utzoo news.admin:2352 news.sysadmin:702
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!alberta!ncc!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!Customer_Portal_Service
From: Customer_Portal_Service@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: news.admin,news.sysadmin
Subject: Re: JJ's phone number
Message-ID: <6013@cup.portal.com>
Date: 28 May 88 16:56:51 GMT
References: <5954@cup.portal.com> <2877@palo-alto.DEC.COM>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 22
XPortal-User-Id: 1.1001.1162

Paul Vixie (vixie@dec.com) writes:
>Was that really nec'y?  [...] He does *NOT* deserve to have his
>home telephone number posted to USENET.  This is impropriety of the gravest
>sort.

First, JJ (aka Rob Noha) used his real name on at least one of his messages.
He also provided his address, and is listed with information.  We did not
provide any information that is not readily available to the general
public.  A pseudonym on Portal (such as JJ) is a convenience, not a way
to hide one's identity.

Second, we receive a number of inquiries about JJ.  Enquiring minds
wanted to know: Where did he go to college?  Does he really own a BMW?
Are jobs scarce in Nebraska?  As you probably know, JJ no longer has an
account with Portal.  Since people could not ask these questions via
mail, it seemed reasonable to provide a way for people to contact him.
If you move, the Post Office and the phone company (and your current
employer, I bet) will tell callers how to reach you.

It seems ironic that Portal gets flamed for permitting JJ to (in our
opinion) deliberately abuse the net, then also gets flamed for not
protecting him from the consequences of his actions.