Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!eecae!cps3xx!rang
From: rang@cpsin3.cps.msu.edu (Anton Rang)
Newsgroups: news.sysadmin
Subject: Re: Ethics of the System Administrator
Message-ID: <1063@cps3xx.UUCP>
Date: 14 Nov 88 00:26:14 GMT
References: <7586@dasys1.UUCP> <6748@pyr.gatech.EDU>
Sender: usenet@cps3xx.UUCP
Reply-To: rang@cpswh.cps.msu.edu (Anton Rang)
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Organization: Michigan State University, Computer Science Dept.
Lines: 25
In-reply-to: is813cs@pyr.gatech.EDU's message of 12 Nov 88 20:02:24 GMT

In article <6748@pyr.gatech.edu>, Cris Simpson (is813cs@pyr.gatech.edu) writes:
>  There is a case in which a user succesfully sued a pay BBS sysop
>for revealing info from her files and messages.

  Hmm.  This is interesting.  One of the BBSes around here (Michigan)
which I call starts out by presenting a paragraph saying something
like "The user is notified that the Sysop may read and/or release
information in both public and private messages, in accordance with
(some section of Michigan law)."  Does anyone know more about this?
  It seems to me that information--whether in mail, messages, files,
etc.--would be protected from release by (among other things) the
copyright laws.  Under my (admittedly very incomplete) understanding,
"works" created by someone are their property and can't be released.
However, if they were employed by someone else, the work is the
property of their employer.  How does this relate to use of computing
facilities?  Any lawyers out there?

(P.S.  If I were a user, I wouldn't put any files on a computer unless
I was comfortable with people rummaging through them.  I don't trust
people to leave them alone, though they probably should.)

+---------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
| Anton Rang (grad student) | "UNIX: Just Say No!"   | "Do worry...be SAD!" |
| Michigan State University | rang@cpswh.cps.msu.edu |                      |
+---------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+