Newsgroups: comp.admin.policy
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!world!eff!kadie
From: kadie@eff.org (Carl Kadie)
Subject: Re: Ohio State University CIS Policies
Message-ID: <1991Jun3.195222.16317@eff.org>
Followups-To: alt.comp.acad-freedom.talk, comp.admin.policy
Organization: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
References: <1991Jun3.173731.14094@eff.org>
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 1991 19:52:22 GMT
Lines: 28

(I understand that these polices will revised soon.)

The policies are better than most. The privacy policy is especially
good. In my opinion, the weakest policy covers email and netnews.

It says that undergrads are prohibited from posting or emailing off
campus.  This rule is enforced very selectively. To quote an OSU sys
admin: "it's just something that's usable as a weapon against the
occasional real jerk." (I think such selective enforcement is
despicable.)

The policy justifies email and netnews censorship by referring to "a
specific obligation to the organizations that operate our computer
networks". It does not identify an organization or reference an actual
contract or policy that requires censorship. (I understand the general
policy of OSU prohibits censorship.)

It is vague, prohibiting "other unsociable [email] acts".

The fatal flaw in the policies is the lack of any notion of due
process. It looks like a student or a faculty member could be
suspending or expelled from the computer system at the whim of sys
admin without recourse to a formal hearing.

- Carl
-- 
Carl Kadie -- kadie@eff.org or kadie@cs.uiuc.edu -- But I speak for myself.