Maybe OT: Network ethics

From: Doc <doc_at_mdrconsult.com>
Date: Sat Feb 2 20:25:37 2002

On Sat, 2 Feb 2002, Doc Shipley wrote:
> How would you react to a guest in your (not normally open to the
> public) building plugging a computer into a random ethernet port and
> asking for a DHCP lease? Is there any non-emergency consideration that
> would make that appropriate?

  A little amplification -
  The building in question is a secured building. Guests are required
to log in & out, and rooms other than snack area & restrooms are locked.
  It is a government building. Space is donated to a local computer
group. A member of that group simply plugged into the local LAN. The
building's rep did state that the port should not have been left hot,
and nobody has admitted, or claimed, that the member did anything but
access the internet.

  I guess my opinion, which isn't very popular here, is that unless
permission has been explicitly given, one should not assume permission
to a local LAN, or internet access through the LAN. I do recognize that
my position is due to working frequently at secured sites. One such
facility, in San Antonio, prohibits ANY access to their network by
non-employees. Contractors must tell a technician what commands to
enter, and which buttons to click.

        Doc
Received on Sat Feb 02 2002 - 20:25:37 GMT