[2533] in SIPB-AFS-requests
Re: fun with pts
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Marc Horowitz)
Tue Oct 29 02:28:04 1996
To: mhpower@MIT.EDU
Cc: warlord@MIT.EDU, sipb-afsreq@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 29 Oct 1996 01:30:23 EST."
<199610290630.AA28741@stan.mit.edu>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 02:27:40 EST
From: Marc Horowitz <marc@MIT.EDU>
In message <199610290630.AA28741@stan.mit.edu>, mhpower@MIT.EDU writes:
>> If SIPB decided to use system:authuser@athena.mit.edu as the only
>> access restriction for all types of MIT-only software, someone
>> responsible for MIT's software licenses might eventually become
>> annoyed by this and cause various Bad Things to happen to SIPB.
I believe that we shouldn't angst trying to second-guess the lawyers.
Athena acted in good faith by making software system:authuser. This
worked for a while, but at some point, they decided (perhaps with some
prodding) it was inadequate, and implemented wrapping for some
software. But for other software, system:authuser continues to be
fine.
I believe we are acting in good faith by using system:authuser, and
believe that using system:authuser@athena.mit.edu is continuing to act
in good faith. If someone comes to us and says that that's not good
enough, *then* we can look for another solution. But before that, I
don't see any good reason to expend the effort.
>> In other words, it doesn't necessarily require human intervention,
>> although in practice we may end up running it that way.
>> On the other hand, if SIPB continues to restrict to system:authuser
>> (in the sipb cell) in relevant cases, that might be seen as a more
>> prudent way of trying to prevent non-MIT use.
If we do implement a way for people to add themselves without human
intervention, then system:authuser may no longer seem as prudent. The
issues here are complex, and I think that be acting in good faith, we
are covering ourselves sufficiently. I also think that if anybody
really wants to flame further, they should ask MIT Counsel what *they*
think, since we're just a bunch of amateurs as far as IP (intellectual
property, not internet protocol) law goes.
Marc
