Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!ucsd!sdcsvax!ucsdhub!esosun!seismo!uunet!auspex!guy
From: guy@auspex.UUCP (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.headers
Subject: Re: administration fascism
Message-ID: <926@auspex.UUCP>
Date: 1 Feb 89 18:52:00 GMT
References: <412@execu.UUCP> <7094@xanth.cs.odu.edu> <412@avsd.UUCP> <1715@helios.ee.lbl.gov> <445@avsd.UUCP>
Reply-To: guy@auspex.UUCP (Guy Harris)
Organization: Auspex Systems, Santa Clara
Lines: 15

>But it is impossible to edit it until it is removed, and provokes the required
>dialogue between user and administrator ... which is all I ask.

Maybe yes, maybe no; they may just get ticked off, as I presume Mr. 
Leres would (and as I probably would, too), and just remove it without
talking to the administrator. 

>Actually, I have been at enlightened sites where /usr/lib/aliases was writeable
>by the world. But if you can't trust your users to edit /usr/lib/aliases, then
>you probably can't trust them to edit .forward, either.

Incorrect.  You can screw more people by monkeying with
"/usr/lib/aliases" than you can by editing ".forward"; by editing the
former you can foul up the delivery of mail to people other than
yourself without their consent.