This thread discusses the Content article:
Does "Monitoring the System" Mean Checking Our Mental Health?
Terry Childs has not had a breakdown. He was hired to install, manage and secure the Fiber WAN network for the City of San Francisco. He has done so for years and has been the sole administrator of that network for years. During the past several years as he was installing the network, the department for which he worked failed to establish any written guidelines as to who should or should not be allowed administrative level access to the network routers - leaving only Terry in that position 24 / 7 /365. For years such decisions as who else should have access had been left solely to Terry Childs. In early June of 2008, Terry made several informal and one formal complaint against a manager of his department, Herb Tong regarding incompetence. On the evening of June 20th, Terry returned to his office to find another employee of DTIS who was a former co-worker and who was no longer assigned to that office, removing a hard drive from one of Terry's current co-workers' empty office. That person claimed to be doing an unannounced audit of the department and demanded the administrative passwords to the routers. Because not a single official document existed to indicate that she was specifically entitled or authorized to such access, Terry refused just as he should have. A member of DTIS management, Rich Robinson subsequently called in the police and the case was made that Terry had caused a denial of service by refusing to give the passwords to someone who had no clear authorization to have them. Of course the City of San Francisco was not actually denied service as Terry remained the sole employee who was authorized to administer the routers and he continued to be able to do so and continued in his position well after the June 20th date cited in the legal complaint against him for denial of service. On July 9th, 2008, Rich Robinson suspended Terry who was STILL the sole authorized administrator of the FiberWAN network, which caused the immediate denial of service. Terry has not only not done anything wrong, he was doing everything right. The network was functional and secure for years under his diligent management. The failure of those managing his department to create any policy regarding who should or should not have administrative control of the routers, and the obvious overall lack of leadership on the part of DTIS management was the entire problem at DTIS. Terry Childs should not be in jail and yet he is and will continue to be at least until his next court date, September 24th, 2008.
Favoured: 1
