In message <3F0E0530.1000402@bl.echidna.id.au>, Carl Brewer writes:
>
>
>Steven M. Bellovin wrote:
>
>> you're generally better off using 
>> fiber between buildings.  I have vague recollections of a very early 
>> coax Ethernet standard being revised because of some dangerous ground 
>> current issues.)
>
>Perhaps more worrying is lightening.  Anyone else recall
>the old copper wired campus "deep fried token rings" stories? :)

Not a story...  When I was a grad student, we experienced that sort of 
thing (to RS-232 devices) *very* often.  Nor did any surge protector we 
could find do any good.  (Of course, ground strikes in North Carolina 
could be *strong*.  One near my apartment tripped a circuit breaker, 
blew out a light bulb, and fried the cable box, the 75 ohm-to-300 ohm 
balun, *and* the RF input of my TV set...)

		--Steve Bellovin, http://www.research.att.com/~smb (me)
		http://www.wilyhacker.com (2nd edition of "Firewalls" book)