seth@dasys1.UUCP (Seth Robertson) (11/12/88)
Someone recently asked this question, but I never saw it answered. What are the professional/ethical standards for a System Administrator. (i.e. are we legally/morally prohibited from looking in User's files? Does it take a court order? If a police guy or an authority in your company/university asks to see his files should you let them? Can you look in people's files to see if they are performing criminal acts (e.g. "cracking")? A major part of that question might be answered if somebody knows if computer data stored on/off line is private property or not. .signature follows *----------------------------------------------------------------------------* *Seth Robertson Systems Manager* *seth@ctr.columbia.edu Center for Telecommunications Research* *..!uunet!columbia!seth Columbia University* *(212) 854-5619 New York, Moon* * * *..!cmcl2!phri!dasys1!seth Big Electric Cat Public UNIX* *----------------------------------------------------------------------------* * "There is no right, there is only power." * * "Unix: The Power of the Root!" * *----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
is813cs@pyr.gatech.EDU (Cris Simpson) (11/13/88)
In article <7586@dasys1.UUCP> seth@ctr.columbia.edu (Seth Robertson) writes: > >Someone recently asked this question, but I never saw it answered. > >What are the professional/ethical standards for a System >Administrator. (i.e. are we legally/morally prohibited from looking >in User's files? Does it take a court order? If a police guy or an >authority in your company/university asks to see his files should you >let them? Can you look in people's files to see if they are >performing criminal acts (e.g. "cracking")? > >A major part of that question might be answered if somebody knows if computer >data stored on/off line is private property or not. There is a case in which a user succesfully sued a pay BBS sysop for revealing info from her files and messages. She had deleted them, and the sysop retrieved them from backups and released them. I would think that it would take a court order to make you release someone's files - search and seizure and all that. Of course, if the owner (university, say) wants to look, you may be in trouble. Another problem is that if a user does something illegal from your system, you may be liable for "contributory" damages to the victim. Sleep well, cris -- ||...despair! Despair I can handle, it's the hope... J.Cleese,Clockwise || Cris Simpson is813cs@pyr.gatech.edu GA Tech Atlanta,GA ...!{akgua,allegra,amd,hplabs,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!gitpyr!is813cs
rang@cpsin3.cps.msu.edu (Anton Rang) (11/14/88)
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 | | +---------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+