Re: membership into DECUS

Thread View: comp.org.decus

2 messages

[T] Back to Threads [V] Tree View [G] Group Articles

2 total messages Started by Paul Robinson Sun, 11 Oct 1992 09:36

#299

Author: Paul Robinson
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 09:36

59 lines
2050 bytes

> The bottom line is that there now is precidence for the Board of the  
U.S.
 
> Chapter to deny anyone membership and throw them out of a DECUS event  
with
 
> out any due process (I believe that they violated the bylaws when they
 
> threw him about and when they denied him membership in the chapter). 
 
 
 
If this is true, Mitnick has an excellent case to sue DEC!  There is  
probably case law on this, since the Bylaws may represent an implied
 
contract between persons who are members of DEC and the company's
 
DECUS division.  (As you stated, DECUS is a wholly-owned subsidary
 
of DEC, and, based on the rather excessive charges for EVERYTHING
 
DECUS puts out, probably a profit center, too.)  
 
 
 
There is precedent on almost the same issue in employment lawsuits,
 
and the Bylaws could be held to be of the same nature as an Employee
 
Handbook.
 
 
 
I might be wrong on this point.  Did Mitnick break into one of Digital's  
sites or did he and his assistant break into a DEC computer which was
 
owned by a customer?  If the former, then DEC could, conceivably, have
 
the right to impose an "interdict" upon a person who committed a crime
 
against them.  
 
 
 
If, on the other hand, Mitnick broke into the computer of a private  
company, not affiliated with DEC, then DEC is on very shaky legal ground  
to impose what amounts to a boycott upon a specific individual absent
 
some evidence that there is reason to believe that he might commit a 
 
crime against them.  And since what he was ejected from were educational
 
seminars and not, for example, a "hands on tutorial" on how to use a 
 
particular computer and/or application, they are on *extremely* weak
 
grounds.

Re: membership into DECUS

#300

Author: Kurt Reisler
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 17:07

33 lines
2114 bytes

In article <718808683.F00001@blkcat.UUCP> Paul.Robinson@f417.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Paul Robinson) writes:

>I might be wrong on this point.  Did Mitnick break into one of Digital's  
>sites or did he and his assistant break into a DEC computer which was
>owned by a customer?  If the former, then DEC could, conceivably, have
>the right to impose an "interdict" upon a person who committed a crime
>against them.  

[Flip mode on, the bear is tired]

Excuse me, but have you just recently returned from an off-planet
vacation?  I had thought that it was well know what Kevin did to so
annoy Digital.  Ray Kaplan can tell you about it, or you can just go
out and buy or borrow a copy of "Cyberpunk" and read it for yourself.
Ray sees Kevin and others like him as a potential source of
information, a sort of reference library of cracker and hacker
techniques.  Other see him as lower than whale spit and not to be
trusted.  Ray knows my opinions as we have discussed it over many a
pint of good Canadian ale.

The US Chapter of DECUS can form whatever policy they wish, as long as
it is applied evenly and consistanty.  Ray points out in this case it
isn't.  If Kevin could have sued Digital, he would have done so a long
time ago.  That is not the point that Ray was raising, it was related to
the issue of membership in the US Chapter of DECUS.

[Flip mode off, we now return you to your regular net.noise]

-- 
                Kurt Reisler (UNISIG Chair, DECUS US Chapter)
		  Captain, UNISIG International Luge Team
		     Only a guest at klr@umbc4.umbc.edu
	     Are creative spellings like a patentable life form?

Thread Navigation

This is a paginated view of messages in the thread with full content displayed inline.

Messages are displayed in chronological order, with the original post highlighted in green.

Use pagination controls to navigate through all messages in large threads.

Back to All Threads