Terry Childs conviction

Fri Apr 30 01:49:18 UTC 2010

On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 7:15 PM,  <Valdis.Kletnieks at vt.edu> wrote:
> So if you want to make an analogy, it's more like taking the keys away from
> a drunk so they can't drive.  Good luck finding a DA who will indict you for
> grand theft auto for taking the keys to prevent a DWI.

According to news reports in this case it was not a charge of theft,
but a charge of criminal Denial of Service.    The service denied
being the ability to administer their network devices by their
authorized admins:  in this case that Childs had been ordered by
people with management authority over him on various occasions to
provide some access to equipment they owned, and he had refused  on
all occasions,   or deceived them  by intentionally providing
incomplete or useless access details.

It was well within management's  authority to demand this, and not in
violation of any laws  (not equivalent to DWI).

It may be of concern to some individuals,  but the operational impact
to well-managed networks should be zero.     Make sure the collective
management of the organization that owns the network has a means of
directly conveying full access at all times to any user they
authorize,  that is provided on demand,  or that there is a clear
password policy  that ensures  that  administration  cannot be denied
to authorized users ?

"Theft" of keys does not equal theft of vehicle,  and  restraining
someone who is not acting rationally and is intent upon committing a
crime, directly endangering lives,  is completely different

Courts might take a much more dim view towards a valet/driver
re-assigned to a different job refusing to surrender the keys to the
owner's new valet,  out of fear the vehicle might get treated in a way
they considered poor or reckless.

--
-J