Unauthorized article deletions spell trouble on popular newsgroup

Wharton and Engineering senior Matt Kratter admitted early this morning that he deleted newsgroup articles posted by three University students and a University employee without permission -- an act University officials say could violate acceptable electronic usage guidelines. In a post to the upenn.talk newsgroup yesterday, Kratter had denied deleting anyone's articles. Kratter, a past chairperson of the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education, was able to delete the posts from his School of Engineering and Applied Science electronic mail account. The deleted posts concerned a "flame war" between Kratter and College junior Thor Halvorssen which occurred between midnight and 2 a.m. yesterday, according to Halvorssen. A flame war is a debate within a newsgroup in which participants often hurl insults at one another. In a post sent early this morning, Kratter apologized for deleting the posts. "I was just being mischievous and arrogant," Kratter later said in a telephone interview. "I didn't realize initially the consequences of that, but when I did, I decided to issue an apology." In a post written yesterday, Halvorssen said he asked Kratter if he had deleted the posts. In his response, Kratter acknowledged that posts had been deleted, but he denied having deleted them and tried to put the debate to rest. Halvorssen said the deletion of posts from the thread made Kratter's position look stronger, while appearing to weaken his opponents' arguments. Halvorssen said posts were deleted in such a way as to "make Matt Kratter's article seem unassailable, at the same time making the critics of his argument look like fools." University employee Paul Lukasiak said he was upset when the original post on which he based his response was later deleted. "What bothers me is that the post I was referring to when I was critical was deleted, which makes me look like an idiot," Lukasiak said. Halvorssen said he spoke with a representative of the Student Dispute Resolution Center yesterday, but would not comment on whether he would continue to pursue the matter with the SDRC. Halvorssen also said he was not satisfied with Kratter's apologetic post on upenn.talk. "This is not an apology. It is an admission of guilt by someone who got caught in a deliberate, malicious and fraudulent attempt at violating a score of guidelines, laws, rules and regulations." Ira Winston, director of computing for the Engineering School, said in general deleting posts would likely constitute a violation of the school's "Policy on Ethical Behavior With Respect To the Electronic Information Environment." Wilson also said the action could lead to "disciplinary action under standard University rules for misconduct," which he said were established in July, 1993 and are given to every Engineering student who gets an e-mail account. But Winston, who spoke before Kratter issued his apology, said it is likely that the person will not receive any punishment from the Engineering School. He said the school usually gives students the benefit of the doubt on a first offense when people are not yet clear on all rules and regulations. Daniel Updegrove, executive director of Data Communications and Computing Services, said the deletions could be considered violations of electronic forgery policies. "Posting a cancel message with someone else's name on it is forgery," Updegrove said. "In this case, it's not particularly clever forgery. His electronic fingerprint is on [the deletions]," Updegrove added. According to Engineering junior and Internet expert Meng Weng Wong, the process by which Kratter deleted the posts from upenn.talk is relatively simple. "It's a very trusting kind of mechanism. If you tell the server anything, it will believe you," Wong said. Kratter essentially fooled the computer into thinking the cancellation messages originated from the owners of the targeted post. However, several students were able to access newsgroup log files which showed that although the cancel commands appeared to come from the legitimate authors of the canceled posts, the messages were actually coming from what appeared to be Kratter's e-mail account. The debate began with a post by College senior Gabriele Marcotti, former Daily Pennsylvanian editorial page editor, concerning the Eisenhower -- the first U.S. aircraft carrier to include both men and women -- on which 15 women allegedly became pregnant. Kratter responded with an attack on Marcotti's post, criticizing Marcotti -- an Italian citizen -- for what he'd written about the U.S. Navy. Halvorssen then defended Marcotti's right to have made the post, prompting the flame war and the subsequent deletions.

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