Computer file access policies
Brandon Allbery
allbery at ncoast.UUCP
Fri Oct 24 04:26:20 AEST 1986
Quoted from <1060 at cit-vax.Caltech.Edu> ["Re: Use of ``vi'' for business office word-processing"], by mangler at cit-vax.Caltech.Edu (System Mangler)...
+---------------
| In article <810 at aimmi.UUCP>, gilbert at aimmi.UUCP (Gilbert Cockton) writes:
| > I'd be curious to see how many people see computer file space as personal
| > space into which no-one should intrude, regardless of access permissions.
|
| The policy on our student machine is:
| "Do not read other people's files without explicit permission."
|
| where "explicit" means "they specifically told you that you could look".
+---------------
I see a computer file system as no different from a regular file cabinet which
has a potential for access by "ordinary people". If a file isn't marked as
private, or a file drawer is locked (equivalent: file system access permission
denies access to the user/group/account/etc.), people shouldn't look. But if
a file (file folder) isn't protected or marked as private, there's no
reason for someone NOT to look at it. This is true for a file cabinet OR a
file system. Caveat filer.
My personal practice is that I lock files I don't want people snooping in or
around, and leave files readable by others if I want them to look. I also
have a directory ".transfer" in my home directory which is writeable by all,
so a user can send me files. (I have csh aliases "lock" and "unlock", plus
a program to examine files in a particular directory -- a shell script "scan"
which uses the "file" command to figure out whether a file is ASCII, binary,
a subdirectory, etc. and uses the appropriate command to look at it (more,
strings, resursive "scan", etc.).)
However, the other view is permissible by this as well: the customer file
cabinet at TDI is unlocked, but I have no business snooping in it. This is
a matter of policy (office file policy/computer file policy). In the end, it
comes down to a management decision. My file policy on ncoast is consistent
with ncoast's policy as a public-access system; at TDI, it is necessarily
different and more in step with TDI office policy.
++Brandon
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