The "last" command lists all the times usershave been logged into a Harvard computer, and alsoreports the name of the computer from which theylogged in.

Because many students now log in from thestudent network, the name of the machine fromwhich they are connecting is likely to be the nameof a machine in a student's dorm room.

So, it is possible to discover that a studentwas in their or another student's room at a giventime.

"Finger" is another Unix command that givessimilar information. It reports the name of thelast computer a student used and when they usedit.

Steen said this information should not be aseasily accessible as it is now.

"It's an invasion of privacy," he said. "We arediscussing them. There are technical issuesinvolved. You shouldn't know where people havebeen."

Many students involved with computers atHarvard said they know this information isavailable. One student even posted a message tothe "harvard.general" newsgroup last semesterwarning of the danger of the command.

Steen said he is discussing these issues withan ad hoc subdivision of the Standing Committee onInformation Technology (IT).

McKay Professor Harry R. Lewis '68, RegistrarGeorgene B. Herschbach, Steen, James S. Gwertzman'95 and Dean of the Division of Applied SciencesPaul C. Martin are on the ad hoc committee, whichmeets occasionally.

Steen said he is considering making the "last"command list the login times of only the user whois running it.

But it's unlikely that the "finger" commandwill be altered anytime soon.

"Some commands are so entrenched into Unix thatyou just can't remove them," Gwertzman said. "Inorder to verify some users, World Wide Web serversfinger the person accessing them and they won'twork if finger doesn't work."

The "mailq" command lists the usernames of thesender and recipient of e-mail messages that arecurrently being mailed.

"If you keep running mailq, you can get thesame information as what's in the syslog file,"said Richard B. Osterberg '96, the HarvardComputer Society's network director.

HASCS may eliminate the "w" command, whichlists the current activities of other users on acomputer, Steen said.