The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
What it doesn't say is that you need a warrant to search something. It says that you have a right not to be searched, or have things seized, unreasonably. As a matter of course this means that most searches require a warrant, so that the judicial branch can "certify" that the search/seizure is not unreasonable. However, in any given situation, an impromptu search may be reasonable. Say for example you get pulled over for erratic driving, and the officer smells pot, searching your vehicle for drugs would probably be considered completely reasonable.
That being said, philosophically I agree with you. I would like to see more protections, not fewer. I think the main problem that we are seeing is the accepted definition of "reasonable" is shifting.
By your reading of the 4th amendment, for any arrest, a police officer would need to have an arrest warrant (naming the person to be seized) This isn't the case. If an officer witnesses you performing something illegal, it is completely legal (and reasonable) for them to arrest you on the spot.
As always IANAL, but the fallacy that all searches (and seizures) require a warrant gets on my nerves, that and I don't believe in violence either.
I also work at a university, and we are in the process of removing everybody's admin rights. I went to senior staff (who then went along with my plan) with the following arguments: 1) Security; Viruses have a much harder time infecting computers if the user is running without local admin rights. 2) Liability; Does your college have licenses for Mathematic, ArcGIS, SPSS, etc? or are your professors using their own license? if it's their own, are they using it correctly? (i.e. only installed on one computer per license) and more importantly, can you prove it if you were audited. 3) "CrapWare"; we had people installing stuff (think free games) that was eating up massive support time, because it came with ad-ware/spy-ware/what-have-you-not-ware and we were expected to support it. 4) forcing loadouts. We use sophos (and have been happy with it), but we had a small number of people that had uninstalled our enterprise version of Sophos, and had installed their own internet security suite. This cause all sorts of problems when it's firewall started blocking certain AD traffic, and other tools that we have on all machines.
That being said there are some software packages that *need* admin rights. MS Great Plains is one, so our financial people have to have admin rights on their computers. I've also discovered that the Kodak Easy Share software really wants admin rights, right now I'm trying to find a way around that.
the flip side is that we had to effectively guarantee 24-hour turn around on all software install requests (within reason) so far I've been happy with the results.
As for the specialized software, try to get campus licenses (perhaps concurrent licensing for some of the more esoteric packages) and either install it everywhere, or (depending on your setup) have it fall under advertised software, so that if they need it, it can be installed automatically for them without the need for admin rights.
I can remove it in about 10 minutes... boot from CD, format C:\ look, it's gone... so is everything else, but that way I know I didn't miss anything.
Seriously though... for many of these FakeAV style viruses (incidently Sophos is adding between 12, and 30 FakeAV style detections a day) it's faster to nuke&reload then it is to worry about cleaning.
step 1) Save user data to flash drive Step 2) nuke & reload step 3) (concurant with Step 2) scan flash drive on *nix box to check for any infected files hidden in user data-space step 4) replace data step 5) educate user
for machines I have an image for the process takes about an hour, for machines I don't I can get a full enterprise loadout (with all approved microsoft updates) done in about 6 hours. Typically I don't use the same drive though. I have a slew of replacement - blank drives, I then hold on the the infected drive for 2 months before running DBAN, just in case I missed some data files.
I'm honestly partial to the HL-5370DW - has the duplexer, a straight through Paper Path option, and is more rugged than the 21xx series (also prints flawlessly from windows, linux and OSX)
(C) makes a telephone call or utilizes a telecommunications device, whether or not conversation or communication ensues, without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person at the called number or who receives the communications;
Honestly, the federal prosecutor was asleep at the wheel going for a fraud conviction instead of using the above. yeah, fraud will get you 3 years, and this gets you a max of 2 years, but still.
Along the same notes, a letter I just recently sent to my congress-critters:
It recently came to my attention that the recent dismissal in the Lori Drew "CyberBullying" case is creating incentive for more "CyberBullying" laws. Specifically in the House Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) has proposed the "Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act" to prevent online harassment.
I would urge you to be very cautious, and highly suspicious of any legislation the proposes legislating something merely because of it being "online". In this case, harassment is already illegal, including online. (See Title 47, Chapter 4, Sub-chapter II, Part 1, Paragraph 223 United States Code).
Granted, The federal government can only regulate inter-state communication, but in the case of the internet, with some very limited cases (i.e. Internal corporate/school/university networks that are limited in location) you almost invariably cross state lines with any sort of internet communication.
In Conclusion I would re-iterate that just because something is "online" or uses "the internet" doesn't mean that it needs new legislation. Respectfully
To all the centers of power, this is known as the "crisis of democracy" - when people actually start running their own country. It's their nightmare scenario, and a goal we should all be dedicated to achieving.
don't get me wrong, I believe that true democracy is a good thing, but when you get too many people in the mix you start getting "Bread And Circuses." What we need is some system whereby there are good checks and balances, and that the will of the majority can't overrule the rights of the minority. Also Fiscal Responsibility is a big key. If I let my kids have a vote on everything, we'd be eating at McDope's all the time, Bedtime would be non-existant, and generally, chaos would rule supreme.
It's all about Balance
As Heinlein wrote in "Time Enough for Love": âoeDemocracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. Howâ(TM)s that again? I missed something. Autocracy is based on the assumption that one man is wiser than a million men. Letâ(TM)s play that over again, too. Who decides?â
Yes I do. It's kind of a pain sometimes. But when you're developing tools to effectively manage large DataBases, you need to be able to test it using a large Database to ensure efficient operation.
I'm the desktop guy here... I deal with the end user's computers. I kid you not, last week our net-admin comes into my office and asks, completely seriously, "Is the internet broken?" (FYI, this was at the same time as the "great Google Outage")
One quick internal face-palm later, I've convinced him that it's just google having some issues, and he leaves.
Yeah, a real winner (and if you knew the net-admin here, you wouldn't doubt the story one bit)
yes, having a decent router will allow you to do that very easily.
Wired: Assign each computer it's own port, use MRTG to monitor each port
more complex... use iptables and have -j ALLOW rules for each IP address used, then you can use 'iptables -L -v -n' to check usage (tack on a -z to zero the counters)
Electricians just see it as low voltage electrical. The master electrician running the crew might know the difference, but the apprentice who is actually doing the work has no clue
Then that electrician should be shot. as they obviously haven't done their Electrical Code update in a few years. There are very specific rules in the electrical code about networking and IT equipment. I should know, I'm an IT Geek with a copy of the 2008 electrical code under my desk (and yes, I've read it)
Don't you realize that that would be the first law that they repealed?
or that failing that, they'd pick 2 laws, bundle them with the third, pass the new omnibus law, and then repeal the 2 chosen ones that would then be included in the omnibus?
Slashdot Mirror
Lets read carefully...
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
What it doesn't say is that you need a warrant to search something. It says that you have a right not to be searched, or have things seized, unreasonably. As a matter of course this means that most searches require a warrant, so that the judicial branch can "certify" that the search/seizure is not unreasonable. However, in any given situation, an impromptu search may be reasonable. Say for example you get pulled over for erratic driving, and the officer smells pot, searching your vehicle for drugs would probably be considered completely reasonable.
That being said, philosophically I agree with you. I would like to see more protections, not fewer. I think the main problem that we are seeing is the accepted definition of "reasonable" is shifting.
By your reading of the 4th amendment, for any arrest, a police officer would need to have an arrest warrant (naming the person to be seized) This isn't the case. If an officer witnesses you performing something illegal, it is completely legal (and reasonable) for them to arrest you on the spot.
As always IANAL, but the fallacy that all searches (and seizures) require a warrant gets on my nerves, that and I don't believe in violence either.
I have to...
Quiet there 1138903, now get back in line
I also work at a university, and we are in the process of removing everybody's admin rights. I went to senior staff (who then went along with my plan) with the following arguments:
1) Security; Viruses have a much harder time infecting computers if the user is running without local admin rights.
2) Liability; Does your college have licenses for Mathematic, ArcGIS, SPSS, etc? or are your professors using their own license? if it's their own, are they using it correctly? (i.e. only installed on one computer per license) and more importantly, can you prove it if you were audited.
3) "CrapWare"; we had people installing stuff (think free games) that was eating up massive support time, because it came with ad-ware/spy-ware/what-have-you-not-ware and we were expected to support it.
4) forcing loadouts. We use sophos (and have been happy with it), but we had a small number of people that had uninstalled our enterprise version of Sophos, and had installed their own internet security suite. This cause all sorts of problems when it's firewall started blocking certain AD traffic, and other tools that we have on all machines.
That being said there are some software packages that *need* admin rights. MS Great Plains is one, so our financial people have to have admin rights on their computers. I've also discovered that the Kodak Easy Share software really wants admin rights, right now I'm trying to find a way around that.
the flip side is that we had to effectively guarantee 24-hour turn around on all software install requests (within reason) so far I've been happy with the results.
As for the specialized software, try to get campus licenses (perhaps concurrent licensing for some of the more esoteric packages) and either install it everywhere, or (depending on your setup) have it fall under advertised software, so that if they need it, it can be installed automatically for them without the need for admin rights.
I can remove it in about 10 minutes... boot from CD, format C:\ look, it's gone... so is everything else, but that way I know I didn't miss anything.
Seriously though... for many of these FakeAV style viruses (incidently Sophos is adding between 12, and 30 FakeAV style detections a day) it's faster to nuke&reload then it is to worry about cleaning.
step 1) Save user data to flash drive
Step 2) nuke & reload
step 3) (concurant with Step 2) scan flash drive on *nix box to check for any infected files hidden in user data-space
step 4) replace data
step 5) educate user
for machines I have an image for the process takes about an hour, for machines I don't I can get a full enterprise loadout (with all approved microsoft updates) done in about 6 hours. Typically I don't use the same drive though. I have a slew of replacement - blank drives, I then hold on the the infected drive for 2 months before running DBAN, just in case I missed some data files.
I'm honestly partial to the HL-5370DW - has the duplexer, a straight through Paper Path option, and is more rugged than the 21xx series (also prints flawlessly from windows, linux and OSX)
That's fine with me, I just gave my 3-year old my 24-volt Dewalt drill with a full set of Torque, and "robby" bits.
At least with a US Passport, there is a bar code... Open the cover, and take a look
I hate to burst your bubble, but in this case
being a big fat meanie-heat
is illegal
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode47/usc_sec_47_00000223----000-.html (Yeah, IANAL) but still, an internet connected computer is a telecommunications device, and I think you'd be hard pressed to argue that the Ms. Drew's actions didn't fall under the following:
(C) makes a telephone call or utilizes a telecommunications device, whether or not conversation or communication ensues, without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person at the called number or who receives the communications;
Honestly, the federal prosecutor was asleep at the wheel going for a fraud conviction instead of using the above. yeah, fraud will get you 3 years, and this gets you a max of 2 years, but still.
Along the same notes, a letter I just recently sent to my congress-critters:
It recently came to my attention that the recent dismissal in the
Lori Drew "CyberBullying" case is creating incentive for more
"CyberBullying" laws. Specifically in the House Rep. Linda Sanchez
(D-Calif.) has proposed the "Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act"
to prevent online harassment.
I would urge you to be very cautious, and highly suspicious of any
legislation the proposes legislating something merely because of it
being "online". In this case, harassment is already illegal, including
online. (See Title 47, Chapter 4, Sub-chapter II, Part 1, Paragraph
223 United States Code).
Granted, The federal government can only regulate inter-state
communication, but in the case of the internet, with some very limited
cases (i.e. Internal corporate/school/university networks that are
limited in location) you almost invariably cross state lines with any
sort of internet communication.
In Conclusion I would re-iterate that just because something is
"online" or uses "the internet" doesn't mean that it needs new
legislation.
Respectfully
I am truly impressed with the number of "Princess Bride" references in this thread
hey, if you're going to do that, at least quote the obligatory xkcd
http://xkcd.com/479/
come on... it's
"Tea, Earl Grey, Hot"
To all the centers of power, this is known as the "crisis of democracy" - when people actually start running their own country. It's their nightmare scenario, and a goal we should all be dedicated to achieving.
don't get me wrong, I believe that true democracy is a good thing, but when you get too many people in the mix you start getting "Bread And Circuses." What we need is some system whereby there are good checks and balances, and that the will of the majority can't overrule the rights of the minority. Also Fiscal Responsibility is a big key. If I let my kids have a vote on everything, we'd be eating at McDope's all the time, Bedtime would be non-existant, and generally, chaos would rule supreme.
It's all about Balance
As Heinlein wrote in "Time Enough for Love":
âoeDemocracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. Howâ(TM)s that again? I missed something. Autocracy is based on the assumption that one man is wiser than a million men. Letâ(TM)s play that over again, too. Who decides?â
Customer Satisfaction, and pro-active problem solving
Let me guess... the Client Security Access is probably Cisco Clean Access, or something else along the same lines.
This is nothing special, a lot of places run CCA. If you don't like it, love off campus, or don't use the campus network.
Yes I do. It's kind of a pain sometimes. But when you're developing tools to effectively manage large DataBases, you need to be able to test it using a large Database to ensure efficient operation.
If it had more RAM it'd make a great web-development server. With only 512MB Ram, I think some SQL databases might be a bit much.
I'm thinking throw a USB external HDD, or maybe just a 8GB Flash-drive on it, and "let'er-Rip"
maybe also add a second USB port, so you can add a USB WIFI adaptor, though the GigaBit ethernet sounds nice.
I can also see using one as a low-end monitoring server (Nagios), or network print server.
you haven't seen my desktop have you?
I swear, "A clean desk is a sign of a deranged mind"... my desktop is about as cluttered as they come (but I can still find things quickly)
I'm the desktop guy here... I deal with the end user's computers. I kid you not, last week our net-admin comes into my office and asks, completely seriously, "Is the internet broken?" (FYI, this was at the same time as the "great Google Outage")
One quick internal face-palm later, I've convinced him that it's just google having some issues, and he leaves.
Yeah, a real winner (and if you knew the net-admin here, you wouldn't doubt the story one bit)
yes, having a decent router will allow you to do that very easily.
Wired: Assign each computer it's own port, use MRTG to monitor each port
more complex... use iptables and have -j ALLOW rules for each IP address used, then you can use 'iptables -L -v -n' to check usage (tack on a -z to zero the counters)
Electricians just see it as low voltage electrical. The master electrician running the crew might know the difference, but the apprentice who is actually doing the work has no clue
Then that electrician should be shot. as they obviously haven't done their Electrical Code update in a few years. There are very specific rules in the electrical code about networking and IT equipment. I should know, I'm an IT Geek with a copy of the 2008 electrical code under my desk (and yes, I've read it)
Don't you realize that that would be the first law that they repealed?
or that failing that, they'd pick 2 laws, bundle them with the third, pass the new omnibus law, and then repeal the 2 chosen ones that would then be included in the omnibus?
but so.... a porn flick would be okay, because that wouldn't be boring, right?
or anybody with any anything that can carry electric current.
Such as...
1) a pair of needle-nose pliers
2) any sort of small metal clips (Binder Clips are good for that)
3) pieces of wire...
oh wait, isn't that the point... make everybody a criminal!
That would have been the Natural History museum... right across from the art history museum.
Good times, good times
Were you just visiting Vienna? or living/going to school there?
no no no... it's a BIHANO...
Bat
Initiated
High Altitude
NO
Opening