[comp.org.eff.talk] Was this ETHICAL???

jlong@uhunix1.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (04/13/91)

I am pissed off! A few weeks ago my account at uhhacb.uhh.hawaii.edu was
jerked without warning And I still haven't cooled off... I don't know if
I can recover a lot of work I've been doing... 

A student employee with SU privs. in a burst of zeal, removed most, but not
all of the non-student accounts on the system. I was told, after I found
out what happened, that I was jerked off (pun CERTAINLY intended) because
I was not a student. And I am not at this time. So if that's the policy,
the jerk sure had a funky way of informing me of it. And he isn't the sys-
tem manager, who WAS pissed off.

Now, I don't have any objection to this policy. My beef is that I was not
given any warning. Indeed, I am not the only one to be jerked off by this
guy without warning. It happened last summer to one of our alumni. At that
time, I told the jerker-offer a little bit about courtesy, but I guess that
I didn't make the point. 

Let me say that this is *not* a personality conflict. I thought the guy was 
my friend! What he did caused him to lose face with many students who are 
just as pissed off as I am. I actually feel sorry for the guy, knowing what
he did caused a lot of bad vibes around the software lab.

I have a good deal more experience with computers than most of the students
here, and I share my knowledge freely and try to be helpful to others as a
way of 'paying my rent'. I never had to hide my face from anyone. The vax
we have is maintained by full-time students who just don't have enough
time to learn the system like I have. So it isn't like I'm freeloading. I've
done a lot of work for free. That's my hacker style.

When I was given an account, there was no policy, and there still isn't.
I was using the system openly for nearly a year since last being registered,
and my removal was a *total* suprise. All I ask is to be treated like every-
body else, and with a little empathy. If I cannot have an account, why is the
jerk's buddy who was never a student allowed to keep megabytes of stuff on
the system, stuff that we can't even use?

Sorry to blow the bandwidth with my self pity. I just had to get this off
my mind. Because of the work I do here, I was able to get an account on a
new system. But I would like to hear the opinions of others, agree or dis-
agree.

WAS IT ETHICAL? 
LongJohn