Students close to HASCS said this week thatHASCS has only two Unix programmers and needs tohire more to adequately handle the work of serving10,000 users.

Other students agreed with Steen's decision notto change the file immediately.

"If there have been complaints and people areconcerned, then change the file," one Mathersophomore said. "But if people aren't concerned,then leave it alone."

Some students said that the recorded e-mailinformation--who e-mailed who and when they didit--is a greater invasion of privacy than the filetransfer information.

All of the students interviewed said they donot think that the e-mail information should havebeen public.

"It's a bad thing because I don't want peopleto know who I'm sending mail to or receiving itfrom," said Jefferson C. Tarr '96, co-founder ofthe student-run Digitas computer organization. "Itover steps privacy boundaries."

"It is a violation of privacy. That informationcould potentially be very bad. In the wrong handsthat information is very dangerous," Tarr said."It's sort of like Big Brother is watching, insome respects."

The log could be useful in containing illegalnet activity, however.

There are other illegal activities the filecould record, like the transfer of copyrightedsoftware or system password files, Tarr said.

"Of course, if you are stupid enough to try tocopy the password file that way, you probablydeserve to have it recorded," Tarr noted.

Issues of Privacy

The existence of the log file is the mostdramatic example of on-line activities beingpublic, but there at least six other ways in whichusers can monitor others' activities.

These include the "last," "finger," "ps,""mailq" and "w" commands and the viewing oftemporary directories which allow users to seewhat files other users are manipulating.

When combined, these commands allow a user topiece together some of the information in the logfile, as well providing users the means to observeothers' activities.

Steen said that the "last" and "finger"commands are currently of greatest concern to him.