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In article <RSM.92Oct6163504@coral.math.arizona.edu> rsm@math.arizona.edu (Robert S. Maier) writes:
>I just reviewed Princeton's "1992-1993 Guidelines for Use of Campus and
>Network Computing Resources", and had to chuckle at the following sentence:
>
>	Attempts to alter the "From" line or
>	other attribution of origin in electronic mail,
>	messages, or postings, will be considered
>	transgressions of University rules.

>My personal .emacs file, a copy of which is on every machine I have an
>account on, contains the following lines:
>
>	 (setq gnus-user-login-name "rsm"
>	       gnus-use-generic-from "math.arizona.edu")

I think, under a very strict interpretation of those rules, you are not
altering the "From:" line at all - you are creating it before it otherwise
exists.

In article <RSM.92Oct6163504@coral.math.arizona.edu> rsm@math.arizona.edu (Robert S. Maier) writes:
|I just reviewed Princeton's "1992-1993 Guidelines for Use of Campus and
|Network Computing Resources", and had to chuckle at the following sentence:

|	Attempts to alter the "From" line or
|	other attribution of origin in electronic mail,
|	messages, or postings, will be considered
|	transgressions of University rules.

|I think the authors of the Guidelines meant to refer to _obfuscatory_ or
|_deceptive_ alterations of the From: line, not just any alteration!

|My personal .emacs file, a copy of which is on every machine I have an
|account on, contains the following lines:

|	 (setq gnus-user-login-name "rsm"
|	       gnus-use-generic-from "math.arizona.edu")

|For those who don't use the GNUS news reading & posting package, what these
|lines do is simple.  They set up a fixed From: line,

|	From: rsm@math.arizona.edu

|which will always appear on my postings.  No matter which NNTP server
|I post articles to (I have access to several), or what machine I post
|articles from.

|Apparently straightforward standardizations of this sort violate the
|Princeton Guidelines!  And what about all the people who append funny
|parenthetical comments to their From: lines?  Princeton sysadmins,
|please note.

What's even more amusing is that Princeton (perhaps only some machines,
perhaps having changed recently) was/were generating non RFC compliant
From: lines as well.  Namely, they were generating a bang address
(princeton!user or suchlike) instead of an "at" (eg: user@princeton.edu
or suchlike).

B news has this unfortunate tendency to discard From: lines that
look like this.
-- 
Chris Lewis; clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca; Phone: Canada 613 832-0541
Psroff 3.0 info: psroff-request@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
Ferret list: ferret-request@ferret.ocunix.on.ca

In article <1992Oct7.035444.8042@mp.cs.niu.edu> rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert) writes:
>>My personal .emacs file, a copy of which is on every machine I have an
>>account on, contains the following lines:
>>
>>	 (setq gnus-user-login-name "rsm"
>>	       gnus-use-generic-from "math.arizona.edu")
>
>I think, under a very strict interpretation of those rules, you are not
>altering the "From:" line at all - you are creating it before it otherwise
>exists.

hmm...

% telnet favorite.smtp.host 25
.....
HELO myhost
MAIL FROM <....>

Yep, I guess it applies here too.  Rules like this are just leverage
in case someone needs to actually use it.  I can create a news posting,
have a From: line that is completely bogus, and be outside the letter
of the rule, but clearly within the spirit of it.  Rules like this
really must specify what is considered an unaltered From: line.

--Dave
-- 
System Administrator, Population Research Institute    barr@pop.psu.edu
Emacs is a fine operating system, but I still prefer UNIX. - Tom Christiansen

rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert) writes:
>rsm@math.arizona.edu (Robert S. Maier) writes:
>>I just reviewed Princeton's "1992-1993 Guidelines for Use of Campus and
>>Network Computing Resources", and had to chuckle at the following sentence:
>>
>>	Attempts to alter the "From" line or
>>	other attribution of origin in electronic mail,
>>	messages, or postings, will be considered
>>	transgressions of University rules.
>
>>My personal .emacs file, a copy of which is on every machine I have an
>>account on, contains the following lines:
>>
>>	 (setq gnus-user-login-name "rsm"
>>	       gnus-use-generic-from "math.arizona.edu")
>
>I think, under a very strict interpretation of those rules, you are not
>altering the "From:" line at all - you are creating it before it otherwise
>exists.

Hmmmm....if I was writing that particular policy, I'd say something like:

	The "From" line of electronic mail, messages, and postings
	must include the following information:

		Your name (the name under which your access has been granted)
		A valid electronic reply address for you

	While you may certainly *add* information to the From line, it 
	MUST contain YOUR valid name/address information.  Deceptive or
	evasive modification of this information is a violation of this
	policy.

With something like this, you could take care of forgers and black-holers 
(those who set From lines to "/dev/null@princeton.edu" or whatever, to 
avoid replies/accountability), while regular folks could still inject a bit
of humor/sarcasm/wit into the otherwise boring header lines......

--Wes

-- 
MORGAN@UKCC         |       Wes Morgan       |        ...!ukma!ukecc!morgan 
morgan@ms.uky.edu   | Engineering  Computing |   morgan@wuarchive.wustl.edu
morgan@engr.uky.edu | University of Kentucky | JWMorgan@dockmaster.ncsc.mil
  Mailing list for AT&T StarServer S/E  - starserver-request@engr.uky.edu

rsm@math.arizona.edu (Robert S. Maier) writes:

>I just reviewed Princeton's "1992-1993 Guidelines for Use of Campus and
>Network Computing Resources", and had to chuckle at the following sentence:
>
>	Attempts to alter the "From" line or
>	other attribution of origin in electronic mail,
>	messages, or postings, will be considered
>	transgressions of University rules.
>
>...
>
>	From: rsm@math.arizona.edu

>which will always appear on my postings.  No matter which NNTP server
>I post articles to (I have access to several), or what machine I post
>articles from.

>Apparently straightforward standardizations of this sort violate the
>Princeton Guidelines!  And what about all the people who append funny
>parenthetical comments to their From: lines?  Princeton sysadmins,
>please note.

Is this an alteration ?  It would seem to me that you are not altering
the from line, but generating it.  Alteration implies that the from line
already exists, and is changed.

Sm
-- 
Scott Merrilees, BHP Information Technology, Newcastle, Australia
Internet: Sm@bhpese.oz.au   Phone: +61 49 40 2132   Fax: ... 2165