Re: nmap..... via web

[Philip Ehrens <pehrens () ligo caltech edu>]

Daemor scribbled:
> Communicate with?  Retrieve data from?  Who authorizes me to connect to
> port 80 at www.nsa.gov?  No one,  it is made publicly available.  No
> authorazation is required to access the data.  Port scanning simply asks
> which services are offered by a computer.  Unless measures have been
> taken to restrict access to the data and the individual has attempted to
> circumvent those measures then I see no crime.  Being charged with a
> misdemeanor simply for port scanning ALONE seems a bit rediculous to
> me.  I realize that scanning a host is often followed by an attack on a
> system or is part of a search for vulnerable systems but simply asking
> if the information is publicly available should not be a crime.

Which, unfortunately, expresses a total disregard for privacy,
which is a right specifically protected in the constitution;
and besides that, self-evidently a right to most people.

I do not suggest that punishment is required or even wanted
in most cases of privacy invasion or compromise, but I would
hope that it would be apparent to you that mapping of ports
outside the realm of pinging will be taken by most people as
evidence of an attempted "break-in"; and that the many statements
presented in the nmap list regarding what people would like to
do when they detect a break-in would give you a clue about
how people feel about this.

Security Admin., scan thyself to sound the thoughts of other men.

I am responding in this way to this post because I think the author
has expressed himself clearly and well, not because I find this
post particularly egregious.  Pace Daemor.

Phil
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