Re: Student arrested for allegedly hacking university computers to derail election

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

Forwarded from: Russell Coker <russell () coker com au>

On Thu, 26 Jun 2003 18:50, Jon Miller wrote:
> That this student chose to use his skills to exploit a university
> computer system (not well known for security in general) is
> troubling. It wasn't by accident that he did this, and unless he's
> been living on another planet for the past couple of years, he knows
> that we don't and shouldn't have a sense of humor about such things.

Normally we don't have a sense of humor about public nudity, drunken
disorderly behaviour, vandalism, unlicensed radio transmission,
offensive language used in radio and public performances, and all the
other things that are well tolerated at university functions.

Even offenses such as impersonating police officers and theft
(although temporary) of police property are treated lightly when
performed by university students as part of a "prank".

Why should rigging an election be treated more seriously than the huge
number of other minor crimes committed by university students which
are often ignored by the police?  It seems to me that a common police
practice when dealing with student pranks is to compell the students
to repair or pay for any damage that they cause and then let them off
with a warning.

Why not just get the student to clean the floors of the computer labs
for half a year?  It will be enough punishment to deter them from
doing it again (often magistrates give less punishment), it will
provide some benefit to the university, and everyone will save the
time and effort that goes into prosecuting the case.

-- 
http://www.coker.com.au/selinux/   My NSA Security Enhanced Linux packages
http://www.coker.com.au/bonnie++/  Bonnie++ hard drive benchmark
http://www.coker.com.au/postal/    Postal SMTP/POP benchmark
http://www.coker.com.au/~russell/  My home page



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