[LINK] Fwd: (-: Internet is a truck

[Jan Whitaker]

>Here's an interesting slashdot article that questions if it is ethical to
>edit a URL so you can see an index of a higher level directory.
>Hacking the Governator
>mytrip writes,
>
>"The Democratic rival to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger acknowledged
>that his aides were responsible for obtaining a controversial audio file, in
>which the Governator was heard disparaging members of other races, in a move
>that has led to allegations of Web site hacking. A source close to Angelides
>told CNET News.com that it was possible to 'chop' off the Web links and
>visit the higher-level 'http://speeches.gov.ca.gov/dir/' directory, which
>had the controversial audio recording publicly viewable. No password was
>needed, the source said."
>
>And jchernia notes, "As an aside, the California Highway Patrol is running
>the investigation - maybe the Internet is a truck after all."


Of course it's ethical! Why wouldn't you? People who don't put index.htm 
files in all their directories are just not very bright. It is mandatory to 
check this when it's a .gov website, because we want to know if our elected 
reps have any ability to hire people who understand technology since it is 
very doubtful if they do themselves. And if they can't get this right, what 
about all those other people they hire to advise them? Hm? Puts it in an 
entirely different context, doesn't it?  So I think we all ought to go out 
and test all the current incumbant candidates for Congress in November (or 
in Australia, our state elections, then cwlth next year) and see if they 
have 'done the right thing' and hired a proper IT person. If not, vote for 
the other guy. Seems about as good as any reason to vote for some of the 
characters running for office.

Jan

Jan Whitaker
JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/
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'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is 
no plant.' - JW, April 2005
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