Re: "TCP Port Lock-down" & Free-speech @ UCB

On May 04, "David Rieger" wrote:

> Claims are being made from a presumable academic & research perspective
> that sysAdmins are contributing to the death of "free-speech" at UCB:
>
> [Basically by restricting ports - causing a diminution of freedom of
> association and speech]
>
> >"UC Berkeley now requires permission to receive TCP connections at any
> >port on any computer. This policy is typical of "locked down"
> >corporations, but now applies to all parts of UC Berkeley, including CS.
> >
> >So you might find this interesting.
> >
> >http://www.satn.org/archive/2005_05_01_archive.html#111521463872601897
>
> ###End Quote###
>
> Discussion? Response?
>
> If there is a response, thank you for a communal effort to clarify.

The above seems to imply that I need to register with somebody if I set up
a web server on a machine I administer...looks like I'm in big trouble :)
I don't know of any entity that I could send such a request *to*.

I have a feeling this person wrote what they wrote in response to a
situation in a department somewhere. I do think it's reasonable for a
departmental administrator to audit what resources are being allocated to
what and whether those resources fit in with the needs of the department.
It's an interesting line to draw; it certainly wouldn't feel wrong to me
for an employee to compose and send an email critical of their departmental
chairperson on their PC, but if the same employee set up a web server on
their PC with similar content, it would feel like they're burdening their
departmental admin and "wasting" resources.

I agree with the sentiments expressed in that it's a shame to turn UC
Berkeley's network into a corporate firewall environment (sort of like
keeping your kids from watching TV or listening to the radio instead of
putting that effort towards preparing their hearts to deal with the real
world.) The answer is proper system administration! (..."Lord, hear my
prayer.")

I could go on, but I don't want to get too caught up in such an
interesting discussion so early in the morning :)

Mike

------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following was automatically added to this message by the list server:

For information about Micronet, including subscribing to
or unsubscribing from its mailing list and finding out
about upcoming meetings, please visit the Micronet Web site:
<http://micronet.berkeley.edu/>.
Received on Wed May 4 09:36:41 2005