Four Arrested For Internet 'Theft' At OSU

GuidoDEV writes "In a case exhibiting an incredible lack of sanity, or at least an incredible amount of overreaction, four [Oklahoma State University] students are facing charges for 'Internet theft,' which apparently consisted of their using a 300 ft. cable to connect to an ethernet port downstairs from them in their residence hall as opposed to using a 20 ft. cable. The student newspaper at OSU, The Daily O'Collegian, has a couple of stories on the situation, which are located here ['OSU students arrested for Internet theft'] and here [ 'Students await arraignment in Internet theft case' ]."

This raises some of the same questions that Napster, alt.sex.stories and (not long ago) IRC have -- if a university is the ISP, how closely can they control the way customers (students) use the resources it makes available? Legal technicalities aside, it sounds like the students are actually saving OSU money by attaching their own masqueraded computers to unused ports on the network they're already paying for.

Maybe universities should concentrate on providing a 'target-rich' infrastructure (ports, access points, shared servers and newsfeeds), and not spend much money on PCs. Workable, word-processing-and-Internet PCs can be had for a few hundred dollars. (And high-powered workstations or servers aren't really at issue in this case.) PCs -- at least those that need to run MS operating systems -- grow obsolete at a pretty amazing clip; networking standards and equipment have a more punctuated evolution, even if it's just as exciting to look at in the long term.

Comments

An Open Letter to OSU

[mosch]

To Whom It May Concern:

I recently read of an incident on the OSU grounds, where students were arrested for 'theft of ethernet'. As a concerned outsider, I must say that this decision makes OSU appear foolish and frighteningly overreactionary.

I fully understand that there are rules which always must be followed, however I am quoting from your own 'Appropriate Computer Usage' guidelines Section 1.02 paragraph A when I note that:

Access to the networks and to the information technology resources at Oklahoma State University is a privilege granted to University students, faculty, staff, and third parties who have been granted special permission to use such facilities.

This sentence strongly implies that all students are granted access to the networks at OSU.

The sentence after this notes a requirement to take into account various obligations before allowing access to 'University information resources', and it would seem that you are defining this rule to have been infringed upon. It is unlikely that this is true, as in the previous sentence you have used the terms 'networks' and 'information technology resources' as seperate entities. Seeing as your policy does not clearly define any of these terms, it seems clear that all students are allowed unconditional access of the OSU network, so long as they are not allowing improper access to OSU servers.

Section 1.02 Paragraph D states the possible repercussions for breaking the OSU Appropriate Computer Usage agreement. It notes:

users are personally responsible for all activities on their userid or computer system and may be subjected to disciplinary action and/or loss of privileges for misuse of computers or computing systems under their control even if not personally engaged in by the person controlling the computer or system.

This sentence mentions nowhere the possibility of punishment outside of University channels, even assuming that what these students had done was truly a punishable crime.

Section 1.03 Paragraph C states that users may use only their own computer accounts, however it makes no rule against the sharing of network access.

Section 2.01 Paragraph C Sub-Paragraph 9 has a statement regarding unauthorized access of networks. This paragraph which reads:

Accessing computers, computer software, computer data or information, or networks without proper authorization, or intentionally allowing others to do so, regardless of whether the computer, software, data, information, or network in question is owned by the University. For example, abuse of the networks to which the University belongs or the computers at other sites connected to those networks will be treated as an abuse of Oklahoma State University computing privileges.

This paragraph does not apply to the students in question as Section 1.02 Paragraph A clearly states they had the right to access the network. Beyond that, the proposed penalty for this infraction would seem to be a possible revocation of OSU computing privileges, not arrest.

Section 4.01 of the Appropriate Computer Usage agreement states the Consequences of Misuse of Computing Privileges. There is no privision in this agreement for external law enforcement. none.I hope the attention which this case has attracted will make school administrative officials take notice of this obvious massive oversight on their part. The only crime which is clear to me is a case of wrongful arrest.

I hope that the school will realize that any legal action against these students will produce only two things, a student who will face unjust future bias in their career, and a university which shows that it is willing to not only discipline it's students unjustly, but to do it in a manner which leaves legal questions for future employers.

In my opinion, even if these students have done something which is against the spirit of the school's usage agreement, is to clear all charges against the students and have any record of the occurances expunged from their records. Additionally, the University should reconsider the ability of whomever decided that arrests were warranted to competently perform their job function.

This is a matter which should've been handled internally, and without fuss.

Sincerely,

Kevin Way

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WOW! This finally made it to Slashdot!

[Quazi]

WOW! A friend of mine lives literally *TWO* doors down from one of the guys mentioned! And the cable had been there (a blue RJ45 cable coming down from the ceiling into the fella's room) for a good month before anyone ever did anything about anything! My passive self never wanted to ask him what the cable was all about -- maybe his friends had a personal network going and most of his friends lived above him on the second floor. But now that I've read the article on the front page of the O'Colly and the front page of Slashdot (I'm still amazed it made it!), I realize that something was up!

As for the fact that they were paying for internet access in the first place, they were paying the "Student Technology Fee" which is an automatic fee that's charged for every hour that a student is enrolled in on campus. This fee covers the cost of the STF-funded computer labs only. (I used to work in one of these labs for three years, and my managers used to remind me that that was where my paycheck originated..) On the other hand, Residential Life (http://www.reslife.okstate.edu/main.htm) charges their own rates and runs their own servers to support dorm ethernet access. The dorm these guys live in is the "old/cheap" 50-year-old dorm "Stout Hall" -- the one with no air conditioning, no cable TV, no in-room carpeting, and no internet access (just a sink that spits out filthy water and lead pipes insulated in asbestos that rattle during the night).. Students can't even get modem access because the campus is using a propretary digital phone system! And these guys just let the little renegade inside them take over, protest and steal some internet access.

ResLife has been proposing to refurbish this building for years, but they didn't have a place to put 400+ students. Until..

http://www.reslife.okstate.edu/pictures/new/new. htm

..ResLife decided to put up new apartment-style housing, demolish the high-rises, and decommission Stout Hall. The students currently in Stout have first dibs to signup for the apartments. They will be quite nice -- two or four bedrooms, with an ethernet jack in each room and at least one extra jack in the living room!

..the guys just couldn't wait to move I guess..

Hell, we just got Southwestern Bell ADSL off-campus all over town here in Stillwater, and it is a hell of a lot cheaper and more reliable than living on campus with ethernet access!

-Quazi

Wireless networking?

[crow]

So what if someone installed wireless networking, such as the Apple AirPort? This would do the same thing, but it wouldn't leave any physical evidence. And unless the school specifically bans it, it would seem to fall under a presumption of fair use, assuming that it's also being used for laptop connections by the people in the room where it is connected.

Why not campus judicial system?

[crow]

So these kids were violating University policy. At most schools, there's a school-run judicial system. The school issues a fine, and it then proceeds through that system; in most cases, students just pay the fine. For more serious issues, penalties may include prohibitions from campus social events or suspension.

I assume OSU has such a system; correct me if this is wrong.

So why was that system not used? Usually colleges do all they can to keep their discipline issues in their own system, avoiding the added publicity and buerocracy that police involvement brings. Why not just issue a fine to the students to recover the unpaid access fees (and possibly a penalty fee)? Is this consistent with how OSU handles other discipline issues, or are they trying to make some sort of example here? If the latter, could that unfair application of the law be a defense in court?

OSU students arrested for electricity theft

[Mike Schiraldi]

Two Stout Hall residents were arrested Monday for stealing access to the Oklahoma State University electricity network.

"CIS reported that someone had attached an extension cord to an unused outlet in the basement of Stout Hall into private residential rooms in the building, allowing the residents of those rooms access to the university's electricity," Altman said.

An OSU staff member told police about some of the same people stealing electricity connections before CIS reported the offense, Altman said.

Eddie Denman, assistant director of Residential Life, said there is a slight difference in rent rates for residence hall rooms with and without electricity.

"It's not a lot of money. The difference is $24 (per semester)," he said, comparing Willham Complex and Kerr-Drummond Hall, two halls equal in all ways except electric connection.

Denman said the reason not all residence halls have electricity is because OSU does not have enough money.

"It's financial," he said. "There's not running water in all the halls. There's not ethernet in all the halls.

"There's a lot of things at the university that we'd like to do, but we just don't have the money."

Travis Wolcott does not understand why he cannot access the campus electricity network when he is an Oklahoma State University student who pays technology fees.

Wolcott said he and other students regularly take their own appliances downstairs and connect to the electric outlet with 20-foot cables.

"They (police) have yet to tell us what is the difference between plugging in our lamps downstairs with a 20-foot cable and plugging in our lamps upstairs with a 300-foot cable," Wolcott said.

He said he and the other students wired their lamps in their rooms from an old beauty parlor in Stout Hall.

"It was unused, and it had been unused for (about) three years," Wolcott said.

Wolcott said he did not tap lines into the OSU system.

Other options for connection include other electricity providers and campus fireplaces.

To use other electricity, a student has to purchase a gasoline-to-electricity power converter and can only use the connection after business hours.

Wolcott said that option also doesn't provide enough current.

"The lights in the basement are not bright enough for us to read (class assignments) by," Wolcott said. "They don't have enough filaments. Most of them don't even have dimmers."

Having the electricity connection strung up to his room gave him immediate electricity access, along with other students.

"More people came down to our room to dry their hair or to read stuff" instead of walking through the rain to the Mathematical Sciences Building, Wolcott said.

Now, the four students have been barred from using the campus fireplaces, and their OSU water connection has been canceled.

Jackie Bolin, Stout Hall director, said she could not comment on the situation because of the ongoing investigation.


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What's the big deal?

[mindstrm]

Hmm. Let's see.
a) They apparently had NO contract or other written or verbal agreement giving them the right ot use the universities PRIVATELY owned network (it's not a public right, you know..). So.. instead of paying the appropriate fees to the university, they used a connection they had no business using. What's the problem here? They WERE stealing.

Now... as for the punishment.. the U should go lightly on them. This is rather similar to other college type pranks.

Bad for the school

[cowscows]

This is just a minor offense for the students, I can't imagine it ever being a big deal for them in the future. Who this is really bad for is the University. Here's a little free publicity telling the world that your school doesn't offer standard internet access, which is quickly becoming a commodity, especially on college campuses. It just speaks very poorly for this school, especially to prospective students that are growing up in a completely technologically soaked world. Even the nongeeks want to be able to check their email from their dorm room. A school that won't put out the money for a little information infrasturcture is going to quickly fall behind.

an OSU Students perspective

[evilned]

I am an OSU student, and although I like the whole free access vibe of the Slashdot community, this is one time I am not going to say "damn the man, let em go". There are several things that people should know about this situation. First of all OSU provides internet access to most of the dorms. The one these students lived in is a dorm that is used for low cost housing, most of the services provided in other dorms, such as cable, air conditioning, and internet access. Basically its place to hang your hat and a phone, and without air conditioning, its damned miserable to live in from April till October. If they wanted internet access so bad, they have a choice of almost any other dorm on campus to live in, many with low cost options like the dorm they lived in. Basically they have the option to get the access legitimately. Sure it may cost them a little more a month to get a room with access, but ethernet connections to a fiber backbone aren't cheap. On top of that, there is a computer lab with full access for them to reach the net in the dorm, and several sizable labs all across campus. Its not like they were completely locked out of the net. Basically they were using a service they hadn't paid for, and were reasonably priced and available. Its also important to remember that they were charged with misdemeanors, not felonies. They'll pay a small fine, maybe some community service and go home. If your looking for a reason to crucify OSU, this isn't it. Crucify OSU for its poorly run netware 5 network that goes down more than a drunken sorority girl.