Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!uwvax!tank!ncar!ames!lll-lcc!unisoft!mtxinu!sybase!chaos!cuccia From: cuccia@chaos.UUCP (Nick Cuccia) Newsgroups: news.sysadmin Subject: Re: Privacy of computer files... Message-ID: <2003@sybase.sybase.com> Date: 14 Nov 88 22:29:50 GMT References: <183@gloom.UUCP> <1988Nov11.180920.21736@utzoo.uucp> <4702@rayssd.ray.com> Sender: news@sybase.sybase.com Reply-To: cuccia@chaos.sybase.com (Nick Cuccia) Organization: Sybase, Inc. Lines: 26 In article <4702@rayssd.ray.com> gmp@rayssd.RAY.COM (Gregory M. Paris) writes: >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 The "right" of schools to search school lockers, to the best of my knowledge, exists only at the K-12 level, and such "rights" assume that Privacy Rights do not fully extend to those under the age of majority (disclaimer: my inter- pretation; I am not a lawyer). But this diverges from the real issue of "Who owns files in any given account on a given computer?" Some places spell this out at the time that the account is granted: one of the clauses in the contract that students sign for accounts at UCB explicitly states that all files are the property of the Regents of the University of California. In other cases, I'd venture that it is still an open legal problem. --Nick =============================================================================== Nick Cuccia System Admin/Postmaster, Sybase, Incorporated sybase!cuccia@sun.com 6475 Christie Av. Emeryville, CA 94608 {sun,lll-tis,pyramid,pacbell}!sybase!cuccia +1 415 596-3500