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From: root@hobbes.UUCP (Super Duper)
Newsgroups: news.admin,news.sysadmin
Subject: Re: Defending Eric Mading
Message-ID: <290@hobbes.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 19-Nov-87 01:53:02 EST
Article-I.D.: hobbes.290
Posted: Thu Nov 19 01:53:02 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 21-Nov-87 13:45:47 EST
References: <1043@pbhyd.UUCP> <25092COK@PSUVMA> <6851@ut-ngp.UUCP> <7427@eddie.MIT.EDU> <1853@chinet.UUCP>
Reply-To: plocher@hobbes.UUCP (John Plocher)
Followup-To: poster
Organization: U of Wisconsin - Madison  Spanish Department
Lines: 38
Xref: mnetor news.admin:1395 news.sysadmin:464

(Followups to news.admin only)

>> Offensiveness *is* protected under the first amendment.
>But harrassment and vicious personal attacks are not.

I speak here as one who has taken courses at the UW Comp Sci Dept, not
as someone who is privy to the decisions made by those in the dept.

When I took computer classes at the UW (on puff.wisc.edu, no less) *ALL*
users of the machines were *required* to read and sign a double sided page
of RULES governing computer usage before they were given an account.

This covered such things as who can use your account (NO ONE besides
yourself), source code restrictions, machine use (and abuse), game playing,
food/drink in the terminal rooms, problem reporting, and the like.

The bottom line was that the only thing that the department agreed to
provide, and the only thing that you were allowed to use freely, was the
tools needed to do your assignments: an editor, a compiler (+ tools), and a
terminal to access them with.  Anything else (games, email, netnews,
networking, and the like) was on an AS IS basis.  If the use of one of
these other things interfered with any aspect of computer operations it (or
your privs to use it) could be removed.  If you violated the rules badly
enough (disrupting the system, eating in the terminal rooms, letting someone
else use your account, violating source code agreements, copying other's
assignments...) you would loose your account.  All this was spelled out
on the rules sheet.

I would assume that since he is a Comp Sci student, Eric agreed *in
writing* to use puff.wisc.edu for the sole purpose of doing his coursework.
It seems that the department decided that his abuse of Usenet exceeded the
allowable threshold of non-coursework use; his access was thus terminated.

Since he should have read what he signed, I don't feel that he has anything
to complain about.  Since he doesn't have anything to complain about, why are
you all jumping in to complain for him?  Tryouts for the ACLU? :-)

  -John