[Linux-disciples] Deleting files you don't own

[Stephen R Laniel]

I was trying just now to figure out why it is that people
who don't own a file or even have any permissions on it are
allowed to delete it. So I created a file, set the
owner to root:root, set the permissions to 600, then tried
to delete it. I was asked whether I really wanted to delete
a write-protected file, and responded that I did want to;
the file was deleted.

Why are users allowed to do this? Where's the logic (I
assume this happens by design)? And if it's something that
should be overridable, how does one override it?

-- 
``[My 3-year-old, Zoe] thought for a moment, and then said,
  `you think George Bush is too stupid to have so much
  wesponsibility?' Yes, child. Exactly that. Plus malice.''
 -http://crookedtimber.org/archives/002857.html