Newsgroups: alt.comp.acad-freedom.talk From: kadie@eff.org (Carl M. Kadie) Subject: Re: American University Computer Policy Message-ID: <1993Mar4.020841.2442@eff.org> Date: Thu, 4 Mar 1993 02:08:41 GMT This is a critique of the American University computer policy. TAU is a private, Methodist-affilated, university. For on-line access to the policy, see the details following the critique. The policy seems weak in the areas of free expression and policy-making-participation (it makes no reference to these at all). Also it provides no specifics on due process. It does offer some privacy protection; this could be improved by giving user's specific notice of when, where, and how their computer files are to be viewed or scaned "to look for particular kinds of data or software." One approach might be to expand TAU's general university privacy policy (if it has one) to include computer files. The policy does not mention its own history. If I had to, I would guess that this policy was set down by the Executive Director of the University Computing Center. (This guess is based on observation that the Executive Director is the highest authority specifically mentioned in the policy.) Ideally, an important policy such as this one is made (and enforced) with the participation of the university community. This is especially important at a private institution in which the policy is part of a $13,000 per year contract that each student makes with the university. [...] >Access to TAU's computers and networks is a privilege, not a right. [...] What does this line mean? It could mean that access can be summarily cut off without due process or right of appeal at the whim of any university employee. On the other hand, it might just mean that computer access is only give to those who need it. In either case, the line should be replaced with something clearer. If it means that computer access can be arbitrarily cut off, the policy should reviewed by the university's government, administration, and legal department to determine if the policy is consistent with the university's general policies on due process and with contract law. [...] >Actions which intentionally disrupt, delay, endanger, expose or >access others' work without specific authorization are prohibited, >are ethically wrong, and will be prosecuted under TAU's internal >rules and under any applicable criminal statues. [...] The policy could be improved by replacing the vague reference to internal rules related to disruptive activity, with specific references to TAU's general rules on disruptive conduct. >Obvious examples of prohibited actions would include: [...] > d. purposefully wasting resources. [...] I suggest replacing "purposefully" with "malicious". [...] >*Copyright [...] >Software available on computers and networks is not to be copied >except as specifically permitted by the applicable software license. [...] This section confuses a copyright with a license. Much copyrighted software is not licensed and at least some on-line material is licensed but not copyrighted. The section could be improved by changing it to: "Software available on computers and networks is not to be copied in violation of any copyright or any applicable software license." - Carl Kadie ANNOTATED REFERENCES (All these documents are available on-line. Access information follows.) ================= policies/american.edu ================= * Edu -- American U. Computer policy for the American University in Washington, D.C. TAU is a private and Methodist affilated. ================= ================= If you have gopher, you can browse the CAF archive with the command gopher gopher.eff.org These document(s) are also available by anonymous ftp (the preferred method) and by email. To get the file(s) via ftp, do an anonymous ftp to ftp.eff.org (192.77.172.4), and get file(s): pub/academic/policies/american.edu To get the file(s) by email, send email to archive-server@eff.org. Include the line(s) (be sure to include the space before the file name): send acad-freedom/policies american.edu