xrjjm%6173.span@JPL-VLSI.ARPA.UUCP (02/04/87)
What exactly is the harm in releasing this material to students ?
- As far as I can surmise, there hasn't been any discussions of a 'sensitive'
nature on this mailing list (I am a new user to this list, so please correct me
if nessesary).
- Although the students have access, how many will do anything with (or even
read) it ? Most of the discusions here are about esoteric software bugs and
purchases of equipment that a student could never afford. There is very little
here for a student to be interested in, so I suspect very few will continue
reading for very long.
- Very few students leave college with any idea of what managing a large
computer system is like, be it Vax, Ibm, Gould, etc. If access to this list
will help out anyone of any discipline understand what managing a system is
like then access is a good idea.
Since this is a public list, let the information remain public, maybe the
students will learn something...
^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v
John J. McMahon (Fast-Eddie)
Internet: XRJJM%6173.SPAN@JPL-VLSI.ARPA
Technical Systems Programmer Bitnet: ZMJJM@SCFVM
STX - ST Systems Corporation SPAN: 6173::XRJJM
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 Views expressed in this letter are my own,
and are not meant to represent the views of
my employers.smith%eri.DECnet@MGHCCC.HARVARD.EDU.UUCP (02/14/87)
Re the recent stuff on students reading Info-VAX. My own right to access the ARPA Internet is a tad tenuous so my own understanding of the ground rules and assumptions may be offbase. But my own assumption is that putting something out on Info-VAX is not too far removed from broadcasting it and/or publishing it. "I shot a message into the air, it fell to earth I know not where." Did anybody check my credentials before adding me to Info-VAX? Am I _really_ mild-mannered Smith (hah! a likely name) or am I Bytemaster Syskruncher, the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main? A student population is certainly, in my judgement, a group that is likely to contain individuals who are willing and able to make bad use of security related information. But it seems to me that common sense would suggest that if you want to keep stuff secret, you don't post it to Info-VAX. Dan Smith smith%eri.decnet@mghccc.harvard.edu ------