MAP25: Address Searches and Finger

My main address is PCRISPE1@UA1VM.UA.EDU (stop laughing ... it's not funny). I also have a UNIX account address (PCRISPE1@UA1IX.UA.EDU), a P-MAIL address (PCRISPE1@SSS.CBA.UA.EDU), and I even have an address on America Online (CRISPEN@AOL.COM).

The only address that I use regularly is PCRISPE1@UA1VM.UA.EDU

When I was writing the lesson plans for the Gopher lessons, I logged on to my UNIX account (PCRISPE1@UA1IX.UA.EDU) just to brush up on some commands. I had not used my UNIX account in over two years (I personally do not like UNIX, and I try to avoid using it as much as is humanly possible) (2)

Sitting in my UNIX account's mailbox were three letters. Each letter was written by someone who said they found my address using an e-mail address search. One of the letters was SIX MONTHS old.

As you can see from the above story, e-mail address searches may not be 100% accurate. You may get a working e-mail address, but there is no guarantee that the address that you get will be on a system that the person that you want to talk to still uses.

The moral of my story is this: while it would be great if you could just type a few commands on your screen and get the e-mail address of anyone in the world, the best way to find someone's e-mail address is to call them on the telephone and ASK them for it.

However, it would be cruel for me to tell you that it is possible for you to do an e-mail address search (however flawed such a search might be) and then not show you how to do one of these searches :)

There are several different e-mail address search tools. I am going to show you one of them -- whois.

The "whois" directory is one of the most popular e-mail search tools. 'The whois directory provides names, e-mail and postal mail addresses and often phone numbers for people listed in it. To use it, telnet to

internic.net

Once you have accessed the telnet site, the quickest way to conduct a "whois" address search is to type

whois <name>

Let's check-up on the President of the United States! I type

whois Clinton

     Whois: whois Clinton
     Clinton Cadillac (NET-C106755)  C106755                198.249.102.0
     Clinton Central School (AGCC-DOM)                      AGCC.COM
     Clinton Group, Inc. (CLINTON-DOM)                      CLINTON.COM
     Clinton High School (NET-CLINTONHS-NET) CLINTONHS-NET  192.239.138.0
     Clinton, Tom J. (TJC2)      tjclinton@PIPTRONIX.COM    416 289 1895

However, I did get some neat information. Let's take a closer look at two of these entries:

     Clinton Group, Inc. (CLINTON-DOM)                      CLINTON.COM
     Clinton, Tom J. (TJC2)      tjclinton@PIPTRONIX.COM    416 289 1895

The second entry is for a person named Tom J. Clinton. Again, the entry has a handle (TJC2). This entry also has two new items: Tom's e-mail address, and his telephone number (btw, this is just an example -- the e-mail address and telephone number listed above will not work).

Let's keep looking for the President. I can use an e-mail address as a search keyword, so I type

Whois president@whitehouse.gov

     Whois president@whitehouse.gov
     No match for mailbox "PRESIDENT@WHITEHOUSE.GOV"

To add to the problem of "inaccurate" addresses that we discussed a few minutes ago, most e-mail address databases are far from complete. Heck, this whois directory does not even have an entry for me!

Again, if you want to find someone's e-mail address, the best way to get it is to ASK that person for their address!!

FINGER

Finger uses the same concept as telnet or FTP, but it works with only one file, called .plan (yes, with a period in front). This is a text file an Internet user creates with a text editor in his home directory. (If you local Internet service provider allows it), you can put your phone number in there, tell a little bit about yourself, or write almost anything at all." (3)

If you local Internet service provider allows you to use finger -- and a lot don't, for reasons we will soon see -- all you need to do to read someone else's plan is type

finger <user@address>

For example, if I type

finger pcrispe1@ua1ix.ua.edu

      ua1ix.ua.edu
     Login name: pcrispe1@ua1ix.ua.edu         In real life: Patrick Crispen
     Directory: /u/as/econ/pcrispe1            Shell: /bin/sh
     On since Nov 09 06:27:38 on ttyp0 at ua1ix from ua1vm.ua.edu ...
     No plan.

Let's finger someone else. I type

finger coke@cs.cmu.edu

      L.GP.CMU.EDU
      Login: coke                             Name: Drink Coke
      Directory: /usr/coke                    Shell: /usr/local/bin/tcsh
      Last login Wed Oct 12 14:27 (EDT) on ttyp1 from PTERO.SOAR.CS.CMU.EDU
      Mail came on Tue Nov  8 13:35, last read on Tue Nov  8 13:35
      Plan:
      Thu Sep 29 17:33:39 1994
      M&M validity: 0         Coke validity: 0 (e.g. data interface is down)
      Exact change required for coke machine.
          M & M                      Buttons
         /-----\
         |     |           C: CCCCCCCCCCCC...........
         |**   |        C: CCCCCC......   D: CCCCCC......
         |*****|        C: CCCCCC......   D: CCCCCC......
         |*****|        C: CCCCCC......   D: CCCCCC......
         \-----/                          C: CCCCCC......
            |                             S: CCCCCC......
            |        Key:
            |          0 = warm;  9 = 90% cold;  C = cold;  . = empty
            |          Leftmost soda/pop will be dispensed next
         ---^---

Using a finger command, they could tell how many Cokes were in the machine, and they could even tell if the Cokes were cold or not (the M&M machine came later).

The neat thing about this is that ANYONE with access to finger can finger the CMU Coke machine and discover how many Cokes there are in this one vending machine in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania :)

While this is funny -- and there are a lot of other neat things that you can find using finger -- there is a problem. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education:

"Many college and university computer system administrators are responding to rising concerns over misuse of the Finger tool with modifications that restrict the information users can glean, and some have eliminated it altogether. Critics note the tool violates privacy -- it provides information about where people are logging on and when they're doing it -- and security -- crackers can use it to obtain information that can help them break into computer accounts ..." (4)

jfesler@netcom.com

#finger <user@address>

You should receive a response about a day later.

You can also try to finger someone using telnet (but I have yet to get this to work from here). If the person's address is user@site, telnet to

<site> 79

HOMEWORK:

• In MAP-EXTRA: Neat Stuff To Check Out, I am going to show you a list of neat stuff that you should check out. One of the things you should check out is the "Special Internet Connections" list written by Scott Yanoff. The list contains the addresses of SEVERAL neat finger addresses.

1. Besides a squirrel!!!
   Go back to where this citation is referenced.
   
   
2. This is a personal problem, and I promise to seek the necessary professional counseling that I need (so PLEASE don't write me).
   Go back to where this citation is referenced.
   
   
3. Adapted from the "EFF's Guide to the Internet" and reprinted by permission.
   (Note: Two places in this document refer to this comment.)
   
   
4. Chronicle of Higher Education 7/13/94 A15, as reprinted in Edupage 07.14.94
   Go back to where this citation is referenced.

   (\__/)  .~    ~. ))
   /O O `./      .'               PATRICK DOUGLAS CRISPEN
  {O__,   \    {                   PCRISPE1@UA1VM.UA.EDU
    / .  . )    \                THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA
    |-| '-' \    } ))
   .(   _(   )_.'         Roadmap: Copyright 1994 Patrick Crispen.
  '---.~_ _ _&                      All rights reserved.

                          The views expressed in this letter do not
                            necessarily represent the views of the
                             University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa.

Go back to the Syllabus

MAP-EXTRA: Neat Stuff to Check Out

MAP-EXTRA: Pop Quiz 2 Answers