[ih] Why is there (still) spam...?

[Steve Crocker]

Nigel,

Thanks.  I never looked into MUD, so I can't comment on it.

In ITS, I believe any user could kill any of the processes run by any user,
but I may not have all the details.  I don't recall there being a command
to bring down the operating system itself.

Steve


On Tue, Jul 29, 2025 at 7:36 AM Nigel Roberts <nigel at channelisles.net>
wrote:

> That may indeed be what I was thinking of.
>
> Then again, was it perhaps possible to use that to kill some important
> process?.
>
> It's a very long time ago!
>
>
> I may also be confusing this with a proposal we had for MUD which would
> allow any adventurer to bring down the system.
>
> THERE IS A BUTTON HERE, UPON WHICH IS A LABEL "DON'T PRESS ME"
>
>  >PRESS BUTTON
>
>
> A HOLLOW VOICE SAYS "DON'T PRESS ME AGAIN"
>
>
>  >PRESS BUTTON
>
> THE ENTIRE WORLD HAS BEEN COLLAPSES INTO A POINT SINGULARITY
>
> (crash).
>
>
> Again, maybe that never got implemented and was merely talk over
> coffee/pinball after the teletype room closed for the evening.
>
>
>
>
> On 29/07/2025 10:35, Steve Crocker wrote:
> > Nigel,
> >
> > If I recall correctly, ITS had a command, Gun, that killed a specific
> > process, not the entire system.  Any user could kill another user's
> > process.  This explicit lack of security was included to make it
> > uninteresting to find ways to find hacks -- a word that meant
> > "interesting and clever tricks," not the later and current negative
> > meaning -- of breaking into the system.  It was, in my opinion, an
> > amusing and quirky way to counter the tendency of smart youngsters to
> > find ways to misbehave, but it seemed obvious to me this strategy
> > would only work within relatively small communities.
> >
> > Perhaps someone on this list can comment further.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Steve
> >
> >
> > I was in the MIT-AI lab in 1967-68, before the machine was connected
> > to the Arpanet.  I don't know if security was added later.
> >
> > On Tue, Jul 29, 2025 at 3:32 AM Nigel Roberts via Internet-history
> > <internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
> >
> >     >> Computers were attended by armies of administrators and operators,
> >     >> who protected their expensive resources with the technology of the
> >     >> day, such as passwords and quotas.
> >     >
> >     > That does not sound like what I remember hearing about, for the
> >     > operations and use of some of the MIT research computers...
> >     >
> >     Not exactly my recollection, either.
> >
> >     If we are talking about MIT computers I remember the following
> >     interchange, the first time I connected to ITS in early 1978.
> >     (It's been
> >     a long time so please forgive the many inaccuracies in remembered
> >     syntax)
> >
> >     @O70
> >
> >     :LOGIN NIGEL
> >
> >     YOU DO NOT APPEAR TO HAVE ACCOUNT. WOULD YOU LIKE ONE?
> >
> >     :Y
> >
> >     WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE CALLED?
> >
> >     NIGEL
> >
> >     WELCOME, TOURIST.
> >
> >
> >
> >     Such casual use by this stranger from overseas who just happened
> >     to have
> >     worked out how to connect to the only ARPAnet node in the UK and
> >     thence
> >     to the systems, particularly MIT-AI (134) and MIT-DM (70) was
> >     actively
> >     encouraged.
> >
> >     Following which we found DUNGEON aka ZORK.
> >
> >     And it was this passwordless openness that inspired the creation
> >     of MUD,
> >     the ancestor of most all multiplayer games.
> >
> >     (I know the folks at DM were really doing some statistical stuff, and
> >     the DM stood for Dynamic Modelling or something close to that, but I
> >     always remember it as "dungeon masters".)
> >
> >     The ITS command :OS allowed you to watch what was going on any other
> >     terminal, and I even have a vague recollection that there was a
> >     command
> >     that allowed anyone to crash the system.
> >
> >     So, not exactly that guarded.
> >
> >
> >     --
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> >     Internet-history at elists.isoc.org
> >     https://elists.isoc.org/mailman/listinfo/internet-history
> >     -
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> >
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> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Sent by a Verified
> >
> > sender
>


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