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Man Sent to Prison Over a Screensaver
FreeMcOwen ^ | 11/28/2001 | Bowman et. al.

Posted on 11/28/2001 12:53:38 PM PST by Macaw

I apologize if this has already been posted but I couldn't find it in the archives and it has me burning up with so much rage right now I thought it would at least be theraputic to post it.

Basically a guy who used to work at a technical college in Georgia ran the Distributed.net screensaver on his PC. This is much like the SETI@Home screensaver in that it solves math problems using idle computers. After he left the college to work somewhere else, he got in a rift with the school and they went after him for using school resources (computers and bandwidth).

CNET covered the story but everyone thought it was not too serious.

Unfortunately a judge has sided with the state and he is up against $815,000 in fines, he's been booked and tossed in jail, and his current employer Cingular Wireless fired him out of fear of bad press.

I am SO angry about this I don't even know if what I typed above made sense. The state has way too much control. This is insane.


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1 posted on 11/28/2001 12:53:39 PM PST by Macaw (jrule@yahoo.com)
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To: Macaw
I thought Georgia was crawling out of it's hick-state status. Now it ranks below Arkansas!
2 posted on 11/28/2001 1:05:44 PM PST by spycatcher
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To: Macaw
He gave away something that didn't belong to him (Computer resources) and, in the process, opened a back door into the computer system that could have been used by hackers to destroy data.
3 posted on 11/28/2001 1:07:10 PM PST by mbynack
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To: mbynack
You apparently don't understand the technical issues involved here.
4 posted on 11/28/2001 1:11:00 PM PST by JoeSchem
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To: mbynack
The resources were only given away when they were not needed by the intended users anyway, and unused CPU cycles are by definition worthless. Would you support prosecution of anyone who installs a traditional screen saver on their work machine? They use an otherwise dormant CPU, too.

The security issue may or may not be valid depending on the design of the software and the school' network, as well as what other software is running, firewall, etc.

5 posted on 11/28/2001 1:13:53 PM PST by Still Thinking
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To: JoeSchem
I'm a computer professional and work in an environment where "intellectual properties" and non-tangible company assets are a constant source of conflict.

From the company's standpoint, this would be the same as employees giving away office supplies or computers because they were underused.

6 posted on 11/28/2001 1:14:19 PM PST by mbynack
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To: Still Thinking
He should have asked permission from the system's owners. They probably would have granted it and this wouldn't be an issue.
7 posted on 11/28/2001 1:15:27 PM PST by mbynack
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To: mbynack
It wasn't his machine, he had no authority to give cycles away. He could have asked permission. (Why didn't he just remove things when he left.)
8 posted on 11/28/2001 1:18:26 PM PST by Doctor Stochastic
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To: mbynack
I'll grant you that he erred in his exercise of common sense, but the school did too. I think they grossly overreacted. The worst that should have happenned to him was to be fired.
9 posted on 11/28/2001 1:20:50 PM PST by Still Thinking
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To: Doctor Stochastic
When the school discovered the software, they threatened him with prosecution and told him not to come near the school again. They didn't give him the option to shut down the software. This is why I feel they overreacted. They immediately went nuclear, when a relative punch in the nose would have served just fine.

That having been said, yes of course he should have asked, but lets not make a mountain out of a mole hill.

10 posted on 11/28/2001 1:23:48 PM PST by Still Thinking
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To: JoeSchem
You apparently don't understand the technical issues involved here.

If this program runs anything like SETI, the resources and bandwidth would be minimal to negligible at worst. The risk to the computer and network would be similarly small (if present at all).

Technical issues aside, though, he probably should have gotten the OK from somebody (his manager or IT department) before installing the program. At that point, they wouldn't have had any way to go after him later.

11 posted on 11/28/2001 1:24:06 PM PST by Bob
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To: Still Thinking
The worst that should have happenned to him was to be fired.

The worst that should have happened was a "What were you thinking of" and a deletion of the offending ware-share!!

12 posted on 11/28/2001 1:27:09 PM PST by Nitro
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To: mbynack
If you're a computer professional, then you're probably one in spirit with those 'molehills into mountains' guys at Boeing Computer Services who took years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to write programs that never got finished, which I then wrote by myself in BASIC and completed in a few weeks.

I just can't see anyone with a sense of proportion -- or humanity -- sending a person to prison over a screen saver.

13 posted on 11/28/2001 1:27:22 PM PST by JoeSchem
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To: Bob
He was the in house IT guy. So if he needed to ask anyone, it would have been the general administration of the school.
14 posted on 11/28/2001 1:27:58 PM PST by Still Thinking
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To: Macaw
SETI@home grabs a packet of data and works on it when the computer is not used. The data packet takes a few seconds to grab but quite a while to process/calculate. Bandwidth is not really a real concern with the software and neither are CPU cycles since they are unused anyway.

The only real concern might be some security concern but that would be minimal.

I am guessing they needed a reason to fire and this was what they dug up. It doesn't make much sense otherwise.
15 posted on 11/28/2001 1:36:04 PM PST by Arkinsaw
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To: Arkinsaw
That's great as far as it goes, but if that's the case, what's the motivation for his prosecution? Are they trying to make Georgians look petty and technically backward??
16 posted on 11/28/2001 1:39:02 PM PST by Still Thinking
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To: mbynack
Do you even think before you type? What backdoor? They were unused computer resources and yes he should have asked first but do you think the punishment fits the crime?
17 posted on 11/28/2001 1:45:45 PM PST by Macaw
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To: All
One of the issues that hasn't been mentioned is that not all of the distributed computing is done for good causes. In many cases the computers are being used to crack data encryption systems that have been developed to protect your credit card information when it's passed over the internet.
18 posted on 11/28/2001 2:07:25 PM PST by mbynack
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To: spycatcher
I thought Georgia was crawling out of it's hick-state status. Now it ranks below Arkansas!

Straight skinny from a lifelong Okie who recently moved to Georgia:

Ain't no way Georgia ranks below Arkansaw. No way atall.

19 posted on 11/28/2001 2:12:57 PM PST by Ole Okie
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To: JoeSchem
Why do you want to make this personal just because I have a different opinion?

I've have an engineering degree and I'm currently about nine months from finishing a graduate degree in computer technology.

I've also spent the last 16 years working as a computer professional designing hardware and writing software for the Air Force and Navy. I have a pretty good grasp on the concept of distributed computing and I think it's great if you have the permission of the system's owner.

20 posted on 11/28/2001 2:13:20 PM PST by mbynack
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