Re: [Plug] telnetting around a firewall - non-technical considerations

["Michael W. Ryan" <mryan@netaxs.com>]

Just to place things in perspective:  I'm a former high school teacher and
I'm currently the technical lead for a technical education facility (and
I've been involved in the decision to implement a proxy server on our
classrooms).

I'm addressing this because I really have a problem with the attitude
expressed here, and I really don't like PLUG being used as a resource for
it.

On Tue, 26 Oct 1999, Nick R wrote:

> First, there's no rule that you can't telnet out. It's just been disabled at 
> the proxy level.

With MS Proxy, if you want to allow telnet, you can.  This does require a
bit of software on the client system, but it's very much possible.  If
it's disabled, they don't want you doing it.

> Second, no, they're just idiots. I'm in the loop here and they're paranoid 
> idiots i.e. they're trying to make a kiosk part of which involves a map of 
> the school through which information can be accessed. Aside from the general 
> Badness of such a proposition, they are holding on it for now because of the 
> fear that somebody will perform a Columbine with the aid of said map. 
> Overlooked of course is the fact that the blue prints to the school are 
> publicly available to all and there is a map given to each student in the 
> form of an agenda book.

Given some of the press flying around, I can see some paranoia.

Now you seem to think that they're making a decision based on uniformed
paranoia.  Instead of just saying "screw you, I'm going to do it anyway",
doesn't it make more sense to try to inform them, rationally with
something other than just your (supposed) opinion?  Hacking around their
firewall will do nothing more than vindicate their paranoia, and possibly
convince them that being connected at all is a bad idea.

And as far as information availability goes, there's a matter of ease of
access and visibility.  You should try to be a bit more open-minded.  Not
everyone is familiar and comfortable with the Internet and computers.  It
is human nature to fear that which we are not familiar with.

> Third, bah! They'd never figure it out and if they did, they'd just tell me 
> not to do it again. I've gotten that for an actual offence that put them 
> into a legally questionable position which I won't get into right now. For 
> something as simple as telnetting out into my box at home they won't do 
> anything.

You know, you're asking for trouble on this.  I'm the most easy-going
person.  When I was teaching high school, a student would typically get
off with a reasonably sincere apology.  All bets are off, though, if the
student, even one of my good ones, did something because they knew they
could get away with it.  I would then make a specific point of nailing
them to the wall, publicly if need be.

Hey, if you want to hack your school's firewall, just to spite them, fine.
Suit yourself.  But I'd really rather not see PLUG used as a means of
helping you do that.

Michael W. Ryan, MCP, MCT     | OTAKON 1999
mryan@netaxs.com              | Convention of Otaku Generation
http://www.netaxs.com/~mryan/ | http://www.otakon.com/

PGP fingerprint: 7B E5 75 7F 24 EE 19 35  A5 DF C3 45 27 B5 DB DF
PGP public key available by fingering mryan@unix.netaxs.com (use -l opt)


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