Re: Terry Childs conviction

[William Pitcock <nenolod () systeminplace net>]

On Thu, 2010-04-29 at 21:23 -0500, Larry Sheldon wrote:
> On 4/29/2010 21:05, William Pitcock wrote:
> > On Thu, 2010-04-29 at 21:48 -0400, David Krider wrote:
> > > On Thu, 2010-04-29 at 16:47 -0500, William Pitcock wrote:
> > > > Surely even at DeVry they teach that if you refuse to hand over
> > > > passwords for property that is not legally yours, that you are
> > > > committing a crime.  I mean, think about it, it's effectively theft, in
> > > > the same sense that if you refuse to hand over the keys for a car that
> > > > you don't own, you're committing theft of an automobile.
> > >
> > > I've seen a dismissed employee withhold a password. The owner of the
> > > company threatened legal action, considering it, like you, theft. My
> > > father-in-law is an attorney, so I asked him about the situation. He
> > > said that it wouldn't be called "theft," rather "illegal control." 
> >
> > Same difference, he still committed a crime and anyone who is defending
> > him seems to not understand this.  Whatever we want to call that crime,
> > it's still a crime, and he got the appropriate penalty.
>
> I beg to differ (the archives may reflect my objection last time around).
>
> I agree that a crime was committed.
>
> It was committed by the management that allowed this situation to exist.
>
> It is a pretty easy matter to maintain controls that make the passwords
> secure but still available to management when they need it.  The
> simplest system was one of sealed envelopes in several different
> District Managers locked desks.  Every now and again a manager would
> take his or her envelope out and test the passwords to see if they
> worked (usually just before the scheduled password change each month).

I don't disagree, but he should not have withheld passwords to devices
that were not his direct property when asked by a superior.

William