Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ncrlnk!ncrcae!hubcap!gatech!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!allosaur.cis.ohio-state.edu!bob
From: bob@allosaur.cis.ohio-state.edu (Bob Sutterfield)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: legality of filesystem greps
Message-ID: <27072@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 9 Nov 88 15:42:58 GMT
References: <19881104194515.0.GLR@MOSCOW-CENTRE.AI.MIT.EDU> <26875@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <2066@spdcc.COM>
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In article <2066@spdcc.COM> eli@spdcc.COM (Steve Elias) writes:

>> glr@WHEATIES.AI.MIT.EDU (Jerry Roylance) writes:
>>>So the first step might be to (quietly) grep unix filesystems for...

> bob@allosaur.cis.ohio-state.edu (Bob Sutterfield) writes:
>>This would yield circumstantial evidence, at best.
>>Any information found this way would be obtained illegally, at worst,
>>unless you have a search warrant against a specific user's files.
>
>	do you consider Cornell's search of Morris' files to be illegal?

I don't know, and what I consider doesn't matter.  "I'm a programmer,
not a lawyer, Jim!"  I shouldn't have spoken so confidently.

I just tried to point out that it might be something to consider,
usually in conference with the "L-word people."  They, and the courts,
are the only ones to trust in such questions.  Has anyone asked one?

Also, in reference to my pointing out the occasionally ironic
differences between administrative philosophies and policies between
different organizations even within the same institution (in this
case, AI and Athena at MIT), I have received several pieces of private
mail indicating that I may have pushed some sensitive buttons at MIT.
Of course, each organization has different goals and different
policies toward reaching those goals.  No harm was intended, of
course, and I apologize for any feathers I ruffled.

Time to get more careful again.  Two overly authoritative-sounding
statements in the same note, each causing a fracas - that's a personal
record :-(