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The Inside Story On the San Francisco Network Hijacking
snydeq writes "A source with direct knowledge of San Francisco's IT infrastructure has tipped off Paul Venezia to the real story behind Terry Childs' lockout of San Francisco's network, providing a detailed account of the city's FiberWAN, interdepartmental politics, and Terry Childs himself. Childs pleaded not guilty to charges of tampering yesterday and is being held on $5 million bail. According to the source, Childs' purview was limited to the city's FiberWAN — a network he himself built and, believing no one competent enough to touch the network but himself, guarded religiously, sharing details with no one, including routing configuration and log-in information. Childs was so concerned about the network's security that he refused even to write router and switch configurations to flash. But what may prove difficult for the prosecution in its case against Childs is that his restricted access to the network was widely known and accepted among managers and the city's other network engineers. Venezia, who has been suspicious of the official story from the start, suspects that the Childs case may be that 'of an overprotective admin who believed he was protecting the network — and by extension, the city — from other administrators whom he considered inferior, and perhaps even dangerous.' Further evidence is that fact that the network, from what Venezia understands, has been running smoothly since Childs' arrest."
short version: if you bad to computers, we bad to you!
Simon Travaglia? Is that you?
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
1. Terry: you selfish bastard, if your network cannot be maintained without you, you have failed as an admin 2. The city of SF: common sense - try it out some time 3. The tax payers: what did you do to deserve this?
Well, now that you've invoked Reiser, it'll probably be true. It'll be a new rule: "If somebody mentions Reiser, the accused geek is probably guilty."
I get a little tired with the "hit by a bus" example. My coworkers use it all the time as an excuse to make me document everything to the Nth degree.
Maybe they could suggest "crushed in an orgy" or "broke lightspeed and turned to photons". Getting hit by a bus is such a boring way to go.
i'm not sure if i am being trolled
are you lampooning how a paranoid schizophrenic thinks or are you actually also a paranoid schizophrenic?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
The magical pixie dust created everytime an OSS program runs.
Terry? They let you post on /. from jail?
You just described Harris County, Texas to a degree that's downright frightening. Recently the payroll information for the entire county was put online by the Houston Chronicle newspaper and a quick look around has confirmed, at least to my mind that the straightest path to a high salary and zero responsibility here is to excel at being a nincompoop.
I'm getting right on that by the way. Look for me in upper-middle management in about three years time.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
Every time someone describes "hit by a bus" scenario, I think that we really should get rid of buses altogether.
> Sure, he's the admin, but does that give him the right to create a situation that basically takes the city's IT infrastructure hostage?
He's just following the most basic security rule that has been told here thousands of times:
Never give anybody your password! Ever!
It's guys like this that bring our IT occupations into ill-repute, by furthering their stereotype of Coke-swilling social retards on power trips.
Now you're just being silly. Some of us don't like Coke. I do, personally, but that doesn't prove anything.
"The fight for freedom has only just begun." - Geert Wilders
Terry, it is this behavior that got you in to trouble in the first place !
Post a challenge on alt.2600 and The Pirate Bay to all comers: award the first cracker to get back root with a lifetime supply of Red Bull and a 10 bill shopping spree at the Frys in Palo Alto. They'll have the guy's password sliced and diced by Wednesday.
No mod points, no meta-moderating/Firehose/all the other free work Slashdot wants me to do.
It's my considered opinion that many people with keys to the mod-car shouldn't have been allowed off the short bus.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Let's hope his mailbox doesn't flow over and crash the servers with congrat mails for sysadmin appreciation day next week.
i'm a Coke-swilling social retard on a power trip you insensitive clod!
I'm a rabbit startled by the headlights of life
Professional job, professional rules, l335ness does not apply
FAIL!
You have no 1337ness
It's my considered opinion that many people with keys to the mod-car shouldn't have been allowed off the short bus.
Oooh, just you wait til I mod your comment down. I'll show *you* short bus!
.:the truth is a lie undiscovered:.
Should he have hired an apprentice and taught them everything?
Are you implying that he's a Sith?
Did you leave the finger with all the spelling knowledge at home?