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McOwen Case Settled

Posted by michael on from the hardly-any-bloodshed dept.

ewilts writes: "Back in July, you ran a story about David McOwen, a computer adminstrator at DeKalb Technical College in Georgia, who was being charged for installing SETI software on school computers. This case has now been settled. See also the EFF press release on McOwen's web site." Update: 01/18 16:11 GMT by M : It was software from distributed.net, not SETI.

13 of 286 comments (clear)

  1. Powerful implications by C4v3_7r0ll · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Although he got off relatively light, the precident set here is that sysadmins can no longer choose to install software at will. As a sysadmin for a large media congolmerate, I find it more and more difficult to simply administer my systems because all the suits want to know every move I make three weeks in advance. This decision simply adds an element of criminality to an already bad situation.

    1. Re:Powerful implications by the_2nd_coming · · Score: 2, Interesting

      This decision simply adds an element of criminality to an already bad situation.

      only in the state of georgia, and any other state that has some stupid hacking law like this.....how the heck can you charge a sysadmin with hacking into a system that they have full privleges to in the first place? that is like saying a cleaning crew is breaking and entering a place that gave them a key so they could do their work at night.

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      I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
    2. Re:Powerful implications by Chester+Abecrombe · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Yes, you're absolutely right! You should be able to use millions of dollars worth of your company's resourses in whatever way you see fit. Who cares if it costs your employer money, and they weren't your computers in the first place, you should have free reign of every computer in the building simply because you say so.

    3. Re:Powerful implications by BlueUnderwear · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Regardless of the end goal (research?), SETI is effectively entertainment software from the client side. It serves no useful function for the company whose machines he ran it on.

      Just like dnetc, it serves the useful purpose of measuring the load of the machine. Just observe how much CPU time it takes: that's the amount not needed by anything else. However, smart people call it idle, rather than dnetc in order not to needlessly scare the suits ;-)

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      Say no to software patents.
    4. Re:Powerful implications by InsaneGeek · · Score: 4, Interesting

      But there's installing software to do work which paid for the servers; and then there is installing software that actually is a detriment to the same servers trying to do work. It's almost the equivalent of seeing that your company has lot's of bandwidth free to their customer T3's and the servers aren't that loaded... why not put out our own free porn website.

      "Suits" as you say should want to know every move you make on a production system, there deffinetly is a need for change control. Ebay supposedly used to run pretty free and open, and had frequent crashes & outages; they brought a guy in and put in proper procedures, change control, etc. and their reliability increased exponentially. It is a big pain in the ass, I'll be the first to admit it, but so is documentation, getting up from your desk to go pee, etc. but it *is* needed.

    5. Re:Powerful implications by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      and the last thing I need is to have a solution forced down my throat from a moron in change control or at the NOC that has no clue about how my division does business or how to even impliment security.

      I have a server that is NOT on the domain and has NO trusts to any other machine or network, it houses the SQL server and data files for one of our most important systems... billing. now I get the idiot from corperate telling me I have to set up a trust with his computers so that some bean counter can log in and view data... no not a login for this person but an entire trust so that every fricking user in this corperation that is logged in can let their outlook virii try and attack my server.

      Luckily, I have a upper sales management person that can override this IT weenie. Until the Corperate IT department can guarantee that the server will not be attacked because of the trust it will not be a part of the network.... and as we all know, you CANT guarentee anything.

      everything in my buildings has fared off the last 5 rounds of virii without even a hiccup. the rest of corperate had major downtime and re-infections. On a conference call about the last virus and how it caused downtime, we were the ONLY office to report that we had no problems... enough to convince my boss to ignore anything that corperate tries to add to the system or block me from changing.

      The job of the sysadmin/netadmin is to give the sales force and all other employees the tools they need to make the company money, it is not there to feed the oversized egos of corperate level power freaks.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  2. $2100 and 80 hours community service by Rupert · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's a pretty steep fine for installing a non-malicious piece of software.

    It's not mentioned in the article, but it seems to me that the $2,100 figure was determined by picking an amount "just a little more than what he would have made had he won".

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    E_NOSIG
    1. Re:$2100 and 80 hours community service by CaptJay · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If I remember correctly, the authorities figured that he somehow had something to gain personally by installing the software, like credit if he ended up being the one who found something in one of the packets analyzed. This was enough for them to label his activities as "for financial gain", and they then proceeded to charge him with just about everything on the book.

      Facing 30 years in prison for installing harmless software? That's almost twice as much as the maximum sentence for a single count of rape!!

      --
      "I remember Y1K, every abacus had to get another bead"
  3. Nice Reporting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    I recall that when this was reported some time ago SETI@Home was not the software installed. Apparently, it's too much to ask that the people posting stories actually read said stories and understand them. Here's a hint: stop being a chimp.

  4. Fire 'em by rjamestaylor · · Score: 5, Interesting
    ...the precident set here is that sysadmins can no longer choose to install software at will.

    Perhaps it's a precedent for telling sys admins to stick to their jobs and keep the best interests of their employers in mind when installing software. This isn't about "sys admins choosing" it's about the appropriate use of someone else's property.

    When I discovered that a developer had installed SETI on my co's production ecommerce servers ("but I nice'd it!") I had the loser fired -- after disabling the software. Am I against SETI? No (nor am I "for" it; I don't care). But the purpose of our servers, bandwidth, etc., is not racking up points in the SETI project.

    Now, we have other servers that are intended for fun and exploration. But our production servers?

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    -- @rjamestaylor on Ello
  5. Re:It wasn't SETI@home! by SirSlud · · Score: 5, Interesting

    >he stole company resources for personal gain

    I hope you're not at work today! You're stealing bandwidth and CPU power to post to slashdot, for the personal gain of .. well, posting to slashdot!

    Honestly, what, you wanna start counting electrons .. which ones make my company how much money, and which ones lose?

    distributed.net does have a goal that benifits those who believe in privacy and ecryption. it's not some sort of time-sharing scam or anything. in fact, if anything, distributed.net has a far higher likelihood of affecting our world (while we're still alive) than the seti project. like, sure, if his college didn't want it, I understand .. but to have been criminally charged instead of simply reprimanded? thats simply ludicrous. i'm liable to believe that someone in georgia does not believe in high encryption and privacy ..

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    "Old man yells at systemd"
  6. This is why you contribute to the EFF... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Don't you see? The state BULLIED them into a bargain. If this would have gone to court, they WOULD have WON. Now, they have set their precedent, and they will be able to bully other people. The college could have just fired the guy, but he did nothing wrong in the first place. He is running the systems, he is entitled to make changes, as long as they do not affect production. Unless, there is a strict change control process in place. At the most, this is misappropiation of resources, and possibly insubordination. Get ready people, next time you piss your boss off, you may just be sent to jail, instead of fired... d_e

  7. So how do we continue our function? by nurb432 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So this means that before i install anything, good or bad, that i must *explain* each and *every* piece of code, and clear it with the people that entrust me with their network and am paid to be the expert on, and responsible for its upkeeep? What if i install VNC, antivirual update, research software for a better network, prety much anything they decide they dont like that day.. i goto jail? Seems to me our ablity to even do our jobs has just been limited drastically. Sure, wholesale personal use is wrong, but the way it sounds now im libel if managemnts mind changes tomrrow on anything.....

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    ---- Booth was a patriot ----