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

[Craig Sanders]

On Fri, Sep 15, 2006 at 07:58:06AM +1000, Jan Whitaker wrote:
> > 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                                                

actually, it's just normal behaviour - how else do you get to the previous
menu/page if the site doesn't actually provide a link to go back up a level?
you edit the URL to go back to (what you presume to be) the index page.

even if the site does provide a link, it's often quicker to just edit
the URL than to hunt for the link on the current page.

it's certainly not any form of hacking.  it's just exploring the site.


craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>           (part time cyborg)