more on MIT says it won't admit hackers

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 10:20:00 -0800
To: <dave () farber net>
Cc: <lauren () vortex com>
Subject: Re: [IP] MIT says it won't admit hackers

Dave,

I really need to write up something in more depth to justify
my reasoning on this, but I believe these schools are grossly
overreacting, in essence using those students as "whipping boys"
to divert attention from the schools' own security problems.

I'm certainly not an apologist for hackers, but in this case the
students, using their own ID numbers, and only even potentially
having access to information about their own cases (as I understand
the situation currently), seem guilty in a moral sense primarily of
those same elements of human nature that cause people to touch
surfaces marked "wet paint" -- no obvious harmful attempt in this
situation.

This is what I call a "big red button" episode.  If you mount a
big red button on a wall that says "don't push me" -- a lot
of completely honest and well-meaning folks are going to push it.
That's human nature again.

Yes, the students didn't show good sense in their actions.  On the
other hand, as a society we do a *terrible* job teaching youths about
these issues (if we even bother to try), so much of the blame
is our own.

I strongly urge the educational institutions who are planning
to reject applicants soley on the basis of this incident to
reevaluate their decisions.  This incident does not rise to
the level that it should be capable of potentially ruining
what otherwise might have been bright academic careers.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () pfir org or lauren () vortex com or lauren () privacyforum org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, Fact Squad - http://www.factsquad.org
Co-Founder, URIICA - Union for Representative International Internet
                     Cooperation and Analysis - http://www.uriica.org
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com


  - - -


> ------ Forwarded Message
> From: Monty Solomon <monty () roscom com>
> Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 07:28:24 -0500
> To: <undisclosed-recipient:;>
> Subject: MIT says it won't admit hackers
>
>
> MIT says it won't admit hackers
> Business school joins Harvard in decision
>
> By Robert Weisman, Globe Staff  |  March 9, 2005
>
> The dean of MIT's Sloan School of Management yesterday said Sloan will
> join Harvard Business School in rejecting applications from prospective
> students who hacked into a website last week to learn whether they had
> been admitted before they were formally notified.
>
> Stanford's Graduate School of Business, meanwhile, asked its own
> applicant-hackers to come forward and explain their actions, in a sign
> that the California school soon may take tougher action as well.
>
> Thirty-two applicants apparently sought an early peek at the
> confidential data in their admission files at Sloan, while 41 files were
> targeted at Stanford and 119 at Harvard. Harvard on Monday became the
> second victimized business school to say outright it would not admit
> proven hackers. The first was Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of
> Business, where one admission file was violated.
>
> Those schools, along with Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business and Duke's
> Fuqua School of Business, all use an independent website run by
> ApplyYourself Inc. of Fairfax, Va., to receive applications and, in some
> cases, manage communications with applicants.
>
> After midnight last Wednesday, hundreds of business school admission
> files were targeted by computers around the globe when a hacker posted
> detailed instructions on a BusinessWeek Online forum. Most of the
> hackers saw only blank screens, though some who accessed admission files
> at Harvard viewed preliminary decision information.
>
> ...
>
> http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/03/09/mit_says_it_wont_admit_ha
> ckers/
>
>
>
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>
>
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