Nmap Announce mailing list archives
Re: nmap..... via web
From: Philip Ehrens <pehrens () ligo caltech edu>
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 08:26:09 -0800
Daemor scribbled:
Communicate with? Retrieve data from? Who authorizes me to connect to port 80 at www.nsa.gov? No one, it is made publicly available. No authorazation is required to access the data. Port scanning simply asks which services are offered by a computer. Unless measures have been taken to restrict access to the data and the individual has attempted to circumvent those measures then I see no crime. Being charged with a misdemeanor simply for port scanning ALONE seems a bit rediculous to me. I realize that scanning a host is often followed by an attack on a system or is part of a search for vulnerable systems but simply asking if the information is publicly available should not be a crime.
Which, unfortunately, expresses a total disregard for privacy, which is a right specifically protected in the constitution; and besides that, self-evidently a right to most people. I do not suggest that punishment is required or even wanted in most cases of privacy invasion or compromise, but I would hope that it would be apparent to you that mapping of ports outside the realm of pinging will be taken by most people as evidence of an attempted "break-in"; and that the many statements presented in the nmap list regarding what people would like to do when they detect a break-in would give you a clue about how people feel about this. Security Admin., scan thyself to sound the thoughts of other men. I am responding in this way to this post because I think the author has expressed himself clearly and well, not because I find this post particularly egregious. Pace Daemor. Phil -- Phil Ehrens <pehrens () ligo caltech edu>| Fun stuff: The LIGO Laboratory, MS 18-34 | http://www.ralphmag.org California Institute of Technology | http://www.yellow5.com 1200 East California Blvd. | ftp://ftp.no.pgpi.com/pub/pgp Pasadena, CA 91125 USA | http://www.mjt.org Phone:(626)395-8518 Fax:(626)793-9744 | http://www.powells.com
Current thread:
- Re: nmap..... via web Joel Gridley (Feb 19)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: nmap..... via web Holger Heimann (Feb 19)
- Re: nmap..... via web Donald McLachlan (Feb 22)
- RE: nmap..... via web Frank Miller (Feb 22)
- RE: nmap..... via web Russell Evans (Feb 26)
- RE: nmap..... via web Kris Northern (Feb 22)
- Re: nmap..... via web Daemor (Feb 22)
- Re: nmap..... via web Philip Ehrens (Feb 23)