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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: David R who wrote (43292)	4/24/2000 9:05:00 PM
From: Hal Rubel	Respond to of 74651

Feedback RE: "Some might say I'm biased. Never the less, I'd like feed back." David Howe, a Microsoft Employee Nobody is saying that Microsoft employees don't work hard for the money. The problem is not so much a problem with you and your fellow workers as a problem with perspective. If you didn't work for Microsoft and didn't own the shares, the situation would be much easier to grasp. Much of what you have cited as facts are true to varying degrees but are pretty much irrelevant. The problem is not one of becoming a monopoly but of using what monopoly powers have accrued in one area to create advantages for one's self in other areas. Knowingly acting to create advantages is worse. Knowingly acting to create additional monopolies out of these advantages is worse still. Inappropriate and un-repentant behavior in defense of such actions practically calls down the wrath of the Gods. You have been living in a protected environment to some degree while working away. Some of that is now changing and life will become even more challenging. Sorry, but this has been building up all around you for some time. it's just easier for some to see than for others. Hal

To: David R who wrote (43292)	4/24/2000 9:25:00 PM
From: Paul K	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Linux open to backdoor password Rogue account makes Red Hat's version vulnerable By Bob Sullivan MSNBC April 24 - A team of Internet security researchers say they've found a serious security hole in the most popular distribution of the Linux operating system. According to Internet Security Systems Inc., there's a backdoor account in Red Hat's Linux that would let a computer intruder access and alter files on most computers running Red Hat's most recent version of Linux. But a spokesperson for Red Hat downplayed the flaw, saying few Red Hat users had been exposed to it. THE BACKDOOR PASSWORD was discovered by researchers at Internet Security Systems last month; it has since been fixed by Red Hat, but any user running their most recent Linux distribution should download and install the fix, the company said. The backdoor account and password is actually associated with Red Hat's Piranha product, a collection of utilities which simplify some common Webmasters administration tasks. Armed with that backdoor username and password, a computer intruder can access the Piranha utilities, and then gain full access to the Web server. The intruder does not have full access to the entire network at that point, but this second step is often trivial, according to Chris Rouland, director of the Internet Security Systems research group which found the flaw. 'This is a very high risk,' he said. 'It gives people the same rights as the Web server itself. That means, for example, at an e-commerce site someone could connect to the customer databases connected to that Web server. And of course, it's wide open for defacement.' Only Red Hat users who have installed the Piranha component are vulnerable. Rouland said that would include any Red Hat user who accepted the standard installation. 'Install all' can be a dangerous choice, Rouland said. But Red Hat's Director of Clustering Technology, Mike Wangsmo, said Piranha is not installed by default, and relatively few Red Hat users have the component installed on their computers. Further, he disagreed with the description of the flaw as a backdoor. According to Wangsmo, there's only one legitimate user name for Piranha that being 'piranha' and the password was accidentally set to 'Q' as default by Red Hat developers. A computer intruder who knew that could gain access to some Red Hat boxes, but only if the Webmaster had failed to reset the password during installation a standard security practice. It's unfortunate but certainly not life-shattering, he said. Someone who didn't reset their password is vulnerable. Rouland said 'X-force' researcher Allen Wilson discovered the backdoor in March during a standard review of Red Hat's Linux source code, which is freely available. The rogue user name and password were embedded in the code. 'Anybody else who's viewed the source code could have found the vulnerability and been exploiting it all along,' he said. 'This one was so easy to find I would think people would have found it and exploited it...I think people will figure it out very quickly.' The updated Red Hat software can be downloaded from ftp://updates.redhat.com/6.2>.

To: David R who wrote (43292)	4/24/2000 9:46:00 PM
From: Exacctnt	Respond to of 74651

A parent's right to custody of their child is not negotiable. The "peaceful" protesters were holding a child against the wishes of his father. I do not care if they were praying or building bombs, what they were doing was against the law. An important point to consider. If the Miami relatives broke the law, how come nobody was arrested at the scene? I mean, if nobody was arrested doesn't that mean that no law was broken or that no crime had been committed? If no law was broken, how can you justify black booted thugs smashing down your door and sticking a automatic weapon in your face, with an itchy finger on the trigger and willing to pull it if you make a wrong move? What would have happened if someone on the relatives side had decided to resist and fight for their beliefs? Would the government have been justified in blowing any resister away? Before this raid, did any government official walk unarmed up to the front door any ask for custody of the boy? The use of brute force in a civil case was completely unjustified. A similar use of force didn't turn out so good at Waco. This time the Miami relatives were lucky, they didn't resist. It could have been real ugly. Imagine the administration spin if loss of life had occurred.