Slashdot Mirror
University Network Policies and Punishment?
A not-so Anonymous Coward asks: "I'm a student in the dorms at the University of Colorado, where every room is wired with Ethernet. I bought an 802.11b access point and card, and have been using them on the network. 2 days ago, I came home to find out that my network access had been shut off. When I called ITS, they said it was because I was running the access point, and this was against policy. I proceeded to look through CU's site, and read the entire AUP and terms of use. Nowhere in these agreements is any ban on using wireless equipment in-room. When I called back to see when I could get my access turned back on, I was told that the one person that could help me was out sick. So far my access has been off for 2 days and counting, and chances are slim that I'll get it back by Monday, leaving me with a total of 5+ days without access, all for a violation I was unaware of, and had no warning about. Do I have any rights to force them to turn my access on earlier, or do I just sit without access until they get around to helping me?" Now assuming the AP was not completely open to public access, what possible reason is there for such a limitation? Most kids now go to college with laptops, and an AP is probably the best way for them to work (ie, not tied to the wall). My recommendation would be to politely talk to the University IT department? If anyone else has been in similar situations, how did you go about dealing with the University to get your account/email address/network access restored?
total of 5+ days without access
What a whiner! Wait until the appropriate person is well again and stop moaning. Internet access isn't a right.
If you need it for your studies borrow your friends' (if you have any) or go to the library.
Mmmmmmm
on the insecurity of 802.11b
Try hacking your own gateway with airsnort
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
Ignorance is no excuse. If it was, we'd all be ignorant and stupid. Shame on you for even posting your sob story on here.
Did you seeks authorization before you added a network node?
Most of us with office jobs would ask for permission before we made the assumption that we can extend the network in an unauthorized manner.
Network security might have an opinion about an open node to the outside world that circumvents firewalls.
I used to work for a univeristy IT department, while I was there as a student. We often shut off peoples network ports for various reasons: running commercial servers, pr0n, port scanning, mp3 ftp servers, flooding, etc.
:)
We also had nothing about running Wireless APs (hell, they even gave us iBooks with 802.11b cards... we had an AP in our room) But we were also geeks and had it secured (well, as good as it can be)
One problem was people using the campus bandwith for other people... such as setting up a dial-in server on their phone lines to give free access to their friends. Oddly enough, they got their ports shut off too.
You can't really complain about it too much, though. At my university, students were paying about $3 a month for internet access... at 10 Base! (okay, maxed at 100 Base total per building, but still faster than a modem) And the entire point of university networks is for academic use.
So basically, it's their network, their rules. Doesn't mean they have to be draconion, but if they want to, they can.
Oh and be polite when you talk to the campus IT guys... they have to deal with a LOT of crap, and experinced users should know how to be nice. (Unless you want to get your connection back and have it throttled to 1kb/s
Youd better be happy your SysAdmin is not a BOFH. Otherwise, youd have alredy been LARTed.
Ooops, and what is this high-voltage cable doing so close to your antenna? And why have all your files on the campus network been erased ? Oh, and what about the girl you like ? After receiving some e-mails she now thinks youre engaged with another man.
Oh, the joys of being a BOFH.
As per the AUP you mention:
* ResNet services and wiring may not be modified or extended beyond the area of their intended use. This applies to all network, hardware, computer lab and in-room data jacks.
This one is questionable, since it does (or can) extend use outside the room
* ResNet may not be used to provide the University of Colorado computer services or Internet access to anyone outside of the Residence Halls community for any purposes (other than those in direct support of the academic mission of the University).
Aside from the inherent insecurities in WEP, they may not be sure you
are even using WEP, which would (or certainly could) provide access to
others outside of your residence halls
* The University of Colorado specific or commercially obtained network resources may not be retransmitted outside of the University community.
As per the AUP you mention:
* ResNet services and wiring may not be modified or extended beyond the area of their intended use. This applies to all network, hardware, computer lab and in-room data jacks.
This one is questionable, since it does (or can) extend use outside the room
* ResNet may not be used to provide the University of Colorado computer services or Internet access to anyone outside of the Residence Halls community for any purposes (other than those in direct support of the academic mission of the University).
Aside from the inherent insecurities in WEP, they may not be sure you
are even using WEP, which would (or certainly could) provide access to
others outside of your residence halls
* The University of Colorado specific or commercially obtained network resources may not be retransmitted outside of the University community.
And not being sure about the location or range, this could also apply.
So, frankly, don't gripe. Those terms are designed to be loosely interpreted. Point is, while YOU may not feel you violated any rules, THEY do, and THEY control the access. Perhaps you can get approval now, but if not, just accept it and live with it. Life is unfair.
I was banned from my University's network a couple of days ago after an e-mail incident - a large university announce-only mailing list had been accidentally left unmoderated and was being flooded with rubbish from all over the campus. I posted a message explaining what had happened (for the benefit of the users asking "Why am I getting so much mail!?") and suggesting everyone just wait it out until the list admins re-moderated the list.
As you can imagine, I was pretty surprised when my room connection stopped working and I recieved an e-mail informing me that I had been banned for a week!
After a short e-mail exchange with a network admin it became apparent that someone had sent an abusive message to the (now moderated) list using my name as their signature. The message had been picked up by a list moderator who suggested I was banned along with the other public abusers of the list. E-Mail headers were checked, my name was cleared and my connection was reinstated (the guy who pretended to be me could be facing a £250 fine though).
The point of this rather uninteresting story? University network admins are reasonable people, but you have to aproach them in the right way. I was painfully polite in every one of the e-mails I sent them, I explained my circumstances in detail and made sure to thank them for their time. Provided you put your case in a clear, concise and above all polite manner you should be fine. What you SHOULDN'T do is go demanding better treatment and quoting University rules left right and center - that won't help your cause in the slightest.
I think I case could be made by the university that a wireless access point "extend the ResNet service beyond the area of their intended use" (whether or not they are actually being *USED* beyond the area of their intended use). Also, it is again *possible* that a WAP be used to provide access to someone outside of the Residence Halls community (even though this may not actually be occurring).
However, in their terms of service, they say the access is a "privelage" not a "right". That could probably be argued as long as *you* are paying for the services of the university - why should it not be a right?
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
Chances are you have a few options. University of Michigan, for instance, has free lawyers for their students who could at least tell you where you stand legally and what your options might be. You likely have other processes you can go through - you are paying for the dorm room with includes the service, bring it up with the administration of the dorms. Take it to a higher level, and show in what ways this has damaged your ability to do schoolwork. We also have a student government we pay dues to. They represent us to some extent to the administration, and you could talk to your student body representative. It'll give you experience for when you find out that you can't play your newest dvds on your home player since the MPAA turned it off and you need to talk to your senator or house rep to get them to overturn the new "Your content are belong to MPAA" amendment.
But reality is that they control the network, and they likely don't report to anyone that you can influence.
Asking for legal opinion on slashdot is pretty short sighted though. Sounds like you just wanted a public place to vent.
-Adam
Most dorm rooms I have seen so far are so small they can be wired with 3' patch cables...
I had every shell, mail, and lab account taken away for running a 'rouge' slashsite. I still haven't recieved access back from my university.
I don't even exist anymore to them, and it's been almost a year.
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
...last year, I accidentally did some portscanning (I was getting Samba up and running and forgot the WINS server; OIT's web page didn't have that information readily available. So I scanned the entire 128.119.0.0/16 subnet for a WINS server) and got my ethernet card blacklisted (I was still able to log on to the public machines). I met with OIT and explained to/convinced their netops guys that I wasn't evil. I ended up scoring extra points by being very vigilant from then on about reporting hacking attempts from the university subnet (as OIT's detection systems are mainly designed for external attacks).
So my advice is be contrite, say you'll never do it again; if you want to do it again, ask them first (maybe going UNODIR would work, also). And if there's anything they need help with, don't hesitate to give it.
Remember, netops people have a tendency to be just like you. They've just had to deal with far too many morons who do stupid things while breaking the AUP. As a result, any violations are assumed to be the work of a moron. If you can demonstrate that you know what you're doing and can be trusted running a wireless gateway (stay away from WEP... use end-to-end IPSec), they'll be much more likely to let it slide.
There was no reason to cut him off at a time when nobody would be around to restore his service; that is just rude. There was no reason to cut him off without sending him an e-mail, to give him a chance to correct his usage first. These are excellent examples of petty authority running unchecked, as characteristic a feature of monopolies as of unrepresentative governments.
It's unfortunate that so many people (made evident by the above postings) learn the wrong lesson, and develop a toadying attitude toward anyone who has managed to seize a little power. The tendency to toadyism is an unfortunate inheritance from ancestors who managed to squeak out a little privilege at the expense of general liberty.
My university recently send me this:
s /p olicies/code_of_conduct_rit.shtml
--------
You are receiving this email because you have a computer registered in
the [University] Residence Halls or Apartments.
ITS is currently monitoring an increase in campus bandwidth utilization.
Our internet connection is currently at 94% utilization for outbound
traffic- that is servers on campus sending information off campus. Some of
the servers consuming the bandwidth are located in the Residence Halls and
Apartments.
ITS will begin DISABLING the Ethernet connections of high bandwidth
users beginning Friday afternoon. If you are running a server and have not
taken steps to reduce or control the amount of bandwidth that you are using,
you may loose your Ethernet connection. You should find settings or
preferences or options for your server software to control bandwidth usage
and consecutive connections.
If your network connection stops working you will have to contact the
Resnet Office (see below) to request reactivation. Any server that is in
violation of the [University] Code of Conduct for Computer Use will be documented and
forwarded to Campus Safety. The Code of Conduct for Computer Use can be
found at:
http://www.[University].edu/~750www/Publication
If you are NOT running a server but your connection stops working it is
likely that your computer has been compromised. Resnet will assist you in
securing your computer and restoring your network connection.
-------
No mention of what exactly constitutes excessive use. X kbps for Y duration? Z Gb per month? I emailed them to ask, but received no reply. They like to be vague so they can take out whoever they want, and let certain 'friends' slip by.
The masses are the crack whores of religion.
"Most kids now go to college with laptops..."
That's a ridiculous statement and an indication of the extent to which we in the (extended) tech community often have our heads in the clouds.
Sorry to be off-topic, but I've spent the day trying to figure out how to shoehorn another 10,000 low income kids into a subsidized summer daycamp program without a budget increase. Issues of class and disposable income are in the front of my mind at the moment.
Its a long shot but... is it your own computer that you are using it on? On the campus I work on students are issued laptops. If they want to add, remove, etc. hardware, cards, etc. from the laptop it must be done by IT. If it wasn't - they can be punished. This falls under permission to modify school equipment.
If its your own equipment, does your school have a policy about using your own equipment on school networks? Ours does. Its stupid, but they won't let students hook up to the network with their own machines. They don't want them to compromise the security of the network so they say.
I'd say what rights you have to force the school to do anything are slim to none. However a lot of it will depend on whether you have previously violated computer policy. And I'd highlight the fact that you didn't get a warning before your disconnection. You might have more luck pushing for another department (like student life) to pressure IT instead of you going to them themselves. Tell them how important the connection is to you and why.
Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.
At UMKC (umkc.edu) the IT department has just recently instituted this policy. The staff has had wide speculation but the one that seems to make the most sense is.... Money. The university is currently charging $450 for a quickly one hour drop of a new CAT5 port. Not only does this finance the people doing the drop, but also the subsequent equipment upgrades required to provide consistant 10 megabit access. While I do not agree with my university's methods or logic, I do see where they're coming from. There is probably something similar occuring at the Univ. o Co. You should consider asking what the cost of a new port is...
Is it just me, or does it seem preposterous that the poster would expect that he has rights in this situation? There are no laws about college students receiving uninterrupted service when you violate the rules, or when you're thought to have violated the rules. You have no option but to wait around until this person is back at work.
:)
Honestly, what did you expect? That you'd be able to call your lawyer, and they'd bring in a member of EMERGENCY IT TASKFORCE (EIT) of your local police department and s/he'd waltz into the ITS office and switch your access back on?
With most college kids I know, it's common knowledge that routers, access points, NATs and the like are not allowed in the dorms. Just makes common sense that they wouldn't want you to do it. Doesn't necessarily make sense why, but it just seems like a rule they'd have. People do it, but they usually have the sense to disguise it.
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
This is relatively suprising that he got 'caught' considering the length of time the CU ResNet and ITS takes to find things like this.
It took weeks, months, and more for them to actually send an email to the guy running a CounterStrike server down the hall, and it took them even longer to find my server.
It seems the CU ResNet policy is to give the student the runaround whilest not providing any information or help at all. I've heard a few different situations that come up:
Server Is found:
* ITS sends email to user explaining they are in violation of the AUP
* ITS shuts down all external access to user dropping all packets from and to outside networks, and sends email like above
* ITS shuts down all external access without any explanation
* ITS literally disables the port the offender is on, after the one or two of the above procedures.
Which happens is anyones guess. Will the offense actually be recorded or not is anyones guess.
Here's my experience:
I was running a mp3 ftp server. I know. AUP violation plain and simple. So i'm suprised, but not perplexed when my connection gets turned off. I call ITS to see whats up (and how long I'll be down, etc.). They have no record of the violation, and they can see my machine, MAC address, etc just fine.
They come out and test the connection by plugging in their own equipment and everything works. I show them I still get link light on my machine, and the switch I have attached (another little linux box I have for development). They connect through the switch and still they work. They give up and go back to research some stuff on the internal routers.
Two days go by.
We finally get a call back from the techs. They explain my machine was blocked off at the external routers, the same procedure if we were to be 'blackholed', except the record was never entered. The tech who finally found the problem removed the block, and I was back on instantly.
So in general, suprising he got to even talk to someone.
Anyway, as to his specific problem though, I would think that if he can prove his access point was secure, so that nobody outside the campus, could get on (the only way they could is through a NAT or if they set up their machine with the dhcp servers on the network. You must register your MAC with those servers to get access outside the campus), he should be fine. There were many of us in the dorms that had more than one machine hooked up on switches, and no complaints there.
--onyx--
Last semseter, got an AP. I'm pritty sure they knew I had wireless gear because I would sit on the patio and surf the net. I also knew that they looked at mysetup at least once because I got back to my room one day and my firewall and access point had been moved some, and the cables were out in the open. Wireless networking gear of any kind is expressly forbidden. They banned it when I asked during the summer.
But some silly rule did not keep me from doing it. My setup was a bit diffrent, I had my ap using wep (unlike 80% of other access points), and I had it on a DMZ where I did all kinds of cool stuff. I also had an ipsec tunnel to where I work and all. Thats another story, but my boss called his friend who runs the university network and got him to open up ip-proto-50 so I could do ipsec.
Why I did not get in trouble, or my access yanked. I would guess thats because I knew a good chunk of the networking folks. Residential Networking even tried to offer me a job.... But, I'm sure that If i had it directly plugged into the network, My access would have been yanked.
Now, if they did not know I had an ap, They will soon, because I know they read slashdot.
My College has a fairly strict set of rules on computer useage too. However, this didn't stop myself and a friend from setting up wireless and letting each other access the college network from through our wireless enabled machines.
How, you might ask. Simple, we're two of the student computing representatives. As such, we get far more leniency from college about our computer useage. We get free internet access, hosting for a few of our machines out of term time, and a big say in what happens wrt student computing.
Admitedly, we do have to go to two student political meetings / week, and help run some of the services. Since we probably would have spent nearly as much time running similar services of our own anyway, the latter isn't a big deal, and makes for great CV entries - it helped me get my summer job :). As for the former, we're always informed on what's happening, get to have a decent say in what happens, and know most people.
So, if you want to do anything even slightly borderline, get involved in student politics first.
This post will enter the public domain 70 years after my death, unless Disney buys another extension.
Whenever I ran into problems with our BOFH-type network admins, I got a professor to poke them. They didn't like it when they got a call from the department chair. It interrupted their 16-hour-a-day IRC/MUD sessions, but I didn't give a crap. I had work to do.
If its anything like my university (University of Southern California) then you are only allowed one machine per port. They run a script to check the network for hubs (or, more importantly multiple NIC addresses using the same jack) and automatically shut it down.
I've had the problem. Best way to solve it is make friends w/ a student employee who has access to the appropriate network tools. If you're good enough friends they'll enable it as soon as you call them.
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
lucky! you had pine!
just kidding, I'm actually in college now, but I like pine. I can check my email from anywhere (try finding a Win or OSX box w/out telent) including the user labs, which are notorious for not allowing anything besides MSWord and Netscape 4.7 to be run....although the Sparc stations can be fun.
But pine+telnet is good; so is IMAP; but pine+telnet is better.
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....