Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!gatech!rayssd!gmp From: gmp@rayssd.ray.com (Gregory M. Paris) Newsgroups: news.sysadmin Subject: Re: Privacy of computer files... Summary: Similar to school locker searches. Message-ID: <4702@rayssd.ray.com> Date: 13 Nov 88 21:52:19 GMT References: <183@gloom.UUCP> <1988Nov11.180920.21736@utzoo.uucp> Sender: gmp@rayssd.ray.com (Gregory M. Paris @ Raytheon Company, Portsmouth RI) Reply-To: gmp@rayssd.RAY.COM (Gregory M. Paris) Organization: Raytheon Submarine Signal Division Lines: 20 In article <183@gloom.UUCP> cory@gloom.UUCP (Cory Kempf) writes: >Joe User has an account on a system that you are running. Is it >proper for you (the sysadmin) to go poking through his files? In <1988Nov11.180920.21736@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: > Unless open access was an explicit condition of his getting the account, > his files are his own. There are some gray areas if his files are > world-readable, but if they are protected, use of sysadmin powers to > poke through them just out of curiosity is improper. Given that courts in the US have upheld the "right" of schools to search student lockers, even without cause, I suspect that they would rule similarly in the case of sysadmins searching user files and directories. My guess is that Henry's rules of propriety should be viewed as ethical rather than legal guidelines (at least in the US). -- Greg Paris {decuac,gatech,necntc,sun,uiucdcs,ukma}!rayssd!gmp I don't care what people say about pain relievers.