We're talking about hacking, not cracking; if I were an MIT student rather than a mere employee, those would be fighting words. (Although an MIT lifer might well be amused at your reference to "the campus computer system" -- the last time you could say "*the* campus computer system" would have been fifty years ago at least. Forrester et al invented core memory in 1949 and I don't think there's been a moment since the early '50s when there have not been multiple computers on campus. I don't know anything about the systems that store private student information -- that's about as far from my job as you can get -- but I do know that the Institute takes its FERPA responsibilities seriously.)
Garrett A. Wollman | As the Constitution endures, persons in every snipped-for-privacy@csail.mit.edu | generation can invoke its principles in their own Opinions not those | search for greater freedom. of MIT or CSAIL. | - A. Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003)