[KLUG Members] City of Battle Creek Vs. ORBZ

Paul VandenBosch members@kalamazoolinux.org
Sat, 23 Mar 2002 06:59:44 -0500


I wouldn't be so quick to jump on the City of Battle Creek.  Gulliver knew 
his software crashed Lotus Domino servers and continued to use it.  Was he 
trying to point out a weakness in that type of server?  Sounds like a hacker 
rationalization to me.

"It seems one of Gulliver's tests to validate whether a server is really an 
open relay or not was causing Lotus Domino machines to crash.  One of 10 or 
so e-mail tests routinely conducted, the code in one was causing Domino SMTP 
servers to enter an endless mail loop, consuming 100 percent of the CPU and 
putting it out of commission.

Laura Atkins, newly installed president of the non-profit anti-spam outfit 
SpamCon Foundation, said the code changes needed to correct the bug was 
"trivial" but one Gulliver, for one reason or another, was unwilling to 
correct."

http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article/0,,3_995251,00.html

I would criticize Battle Creek for continuing to use a server with known 
vulnerabilities.  But just because Gulliver wears a white hat doesn't mean 
that he can write buggy code, know about problems that cause a server to 
crash, and continue to use the code on servers owned by others.  He 
should pay the City for the time it took to get the server back up, and for 
any losses incurred.

On Friday 22 March 2002 09:33 pm, you wrote:
> Richard Zimmerman <richard@knbpower.com> wrote:
> >   Well, it seems the City of Battle Creek has seen the light....
> >City Tells ORBZ Owner...Oops
> >In a classic example of litigating first and asking questions
> >later, the city of Battle Creek, Mich., withdraws its lawsuit
> >against Gulliver's blacklist.
> >http://www.internetnews.com/isp-news/article/0,,8_996341,00.html
>
> Good news... maybe. Please read this story, and note the leaps of
> fantasy and presumption made by the city officials in proceeding
> from alleged effect to alleged cause.
>
> What can be done to abate this ignorance?
>
> 						Regards,
> 						---> RGB <---
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Members mailing list
> Members@kalamazoolinux.org
>