Re: Censor-round

[btm805@btrtx9.hrz.uni-bayreuth.de (B. Gramlich)]

Mark, Re:

> RT is in no danger
> UNLESS he continues to harrass people. It's his choice.

Well, I wouldn't claim that without knowing further details...  It depends on
how cleverly Fang concealed RT's identity when he contacted PARAMETRIC
TECHNOLOGIES.

If my boss stepped up to me and said: `Hey, sysop, someone told me that some
asshole here at my chair is causing serious trouble on The Who mailing list
using his university account', I would search the mailboxes for the string `he
Who', and I would detect the delinquent within less than a minute (*).  If
Fang hadn't mentioned The Who in his complaint to my boss, I would have
searched for Fang's e-mail address (provided that he had complained by e-mail)
instead.  Only if I knew really nothing about the topic of that mailing list
and Fang's identity, I would be a little helpless - having to rely on the size
of incoming mailboxes or other e-mail traffic data to find out who could
possibly be meant...  But even then it wouldn't take very long to detect my
Mr. Censor...  (Hm, I don't know how big a company Parametric actually is -
it could be a hard job to find Mr. Censor when they have several hundred
employees.)

   (*) Well, I would do so if I were in America...  German law doesn't allow
   sysops to do anything with the users' mail.  So I would just have to shrug,
   saying:  `Sorry, boss, I can't...'

Thus:

   - If Fang wasn't clever enough, he already has betrayed RT.

   - If Fang was clever (which is what I assume and hope), than it depends on
   Parametric's structure (and the skill of their computer wizards) whether RT
   already has trouble with his boss or not.

In any case, Fang's `Cease and Desist' posting looked like blackmail to me -
which I really don't like to see on this list (though I don't mind killing
animals for reasonable purposes - but that's another story, eh, Fang? :-) ).

> RT can certainly
> say whatever he wants, as long as he is willing to deal with the
> consequences. If he wasn't doing anything he was ashamed of, he wouldn't
> care if his bosses found out...right?

I strongly believe in the principle to give everybody the chance to compensate
for the damage he has done before sueing him.  That's why I spoke up in this
discussion.  It seems to me like Fang has violated that principle...

> And believe me...you know only the tip of the iceberg in this matter.

Well, if you provide more information, I might change my opinion.  But as for
now, I still feel uncomfortable about Fang's initiative...

Bernd