[TriLUG] gpsmap experience

[Steve Litt]

On Monday 09 May 2005 10:17 am, Dan Monjar wrote:
> Mike Johnson wrote:
> > It should be noted that a guy went to jail not too long ago by
> > approaching an area hospital with an offer to help secure their wireless
> > network that he had found was wide open.  Not sure if he was convicted,
> > but he was brought up on charges:
> > http://www.wral.com/news/2465963/detail.html
> >
> > The security industry does not need to be all about fear, uncertainty,
> > and doubt.
>
> Who was the famous Perl hacker that did federal time a few years ago
> because he tried to help Intel?  He was a contractor on-site and pulled
> down a passwd file to show them how many weak passwords they had.  They
> were not amused.
>
> Unauthorized access is just that... regardless of intent.
>
> --
> Dan Monjar

Once again, a reading of the links on 
http://www.lightlink.com/spacenka/fors/police/police.html indicate to me that 
he wasn't just showing them weak passwords. One of his motives was to get his 
email faster, which, while not malicious, is also not altruistic.

What's worse, he had been warned at least twice at Intel not to crack anything 
else. Only after he ignored the warnings was he prosecuted. He also had 
gotten in trouble with other employers for similar activities.

IMHO Randall Schwartz used very bad judgement, in repeatedly ignoring 
warnings.

When I get a traffic ticket, I take driving school so it doesn't go on my 
record, and then drive like a saint for the next year. What I do NOT do is 
drive 100mph a few months after getting a ticket.

I guess what I'm saying is yes, this stuff could happen to anyone, but it's a 
whole lot more likely to happen to somebody with bad judgement.

SteveT

Steve Litt
Founder and acting president: GoLUG
http://www.golug.org