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Handling Campus AUP (non-)Violations?
speby asks: "I am a CS student at Northern Illinois University and I recently compiled a working peer-to-peer file web-based file indexing system. I refused to sign their agreement that says I violated their Acceptable Use Policy because I sincerely believe I did not violate them. My system scans a large portion of my school's network hosts looking for openly accessible, anonymous Windows File Shares, and bandwidth usage is minimal. The AUP does not mention scans and I did not 'break' or 'crack' security in any way. I agreed to shut the service down for a period of time until I can figure something else out. I do not agree with their stance on this issue and I believe I have a right to design, implement, and make available such a service. I certainly did not see anything in their terms of service that would disallow such a system. Do these other universities that allow this kind of system care? Why can this system not exist here?" I have no problem with a student being told to shut down a homebrew service if they find it offensive, but I do have a problem with them treating said students like criminals, even when they do comply with their wishes. What should students do, when they are bullied by their colleges into signing violations that are more stringent than the situation merits?
"I was contacted by the IT department after a few weeks of its public running. I did not actively promote the system. It works in ways similar to the file search engines like the ones at Iowa State University and Georgia Technical Institute. In terms of programming, this idea is so trivial anyone could do it with the help of some simple scripting and a lightweight database."
That's about the only thing in the AUP that I could see them having a problem with. Perhaps you want to show the ISU and GA search engines to them as an example of what's going on. Also, you might implement a bandwidth throttle. My 2 cents.
Overrated / Underrated : Moderation
I don't know enough about how much trouble you're facing or what options you have, but you've violated Acceptable use of NIU information technology resources is based on common sense, common decency, and civility applied to the networked computing environment. and probably All authorized users have the right to expect reasonable privacy with regard to all computer files and e-mail.
More importantly...
I do not agree with their stance on this issue and I believe I have a right to design, implement, and make available such a service.
OK, now this is where you're being a dumbass. There are going to be plenty of idiots here telling you to keep sticking it to The Man. If you're smart, you'll do what Kevin Mitnick and Randal Schwartz wouldn't -- stop when you've been told to stop.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
You have to understand. College is Club Med for young people. You all are the customers. And what you all are buying can all be got for free at any good public library.
Colleges make up for this by providing all sorts of 'perks' that don't have anything to do with the service they are providing. Sports facillities, money for student associations and clubs, and a fat connection as well. They charge for these by tuition. It's a lump sum, so you can't opt-out of anything.
Since corporations are too badly mis-run to actually do real screening for ability in applicants, you need a bit of college. It's not such a bad place. Unfortunately, there are too many youngsters who are used to the authority of their parents and high school teachers. They don't understand the customer--business relationship. And college administrations take advantage of it.
So here's the solution. Like any badly run buearacracy, the college administration will fold, give in to your demands, and bend over for you, if you give them enough grief. Don't do anything that they can kick you out for, but give them a truck-load of pain through all the official channels possible. And if you run out of official channels, make some up. Don't give up until they give you a new car and a Phd as a settlement agreement.
If you are thinking of modding this funny--don't. It's all true.
I'm a student at Georgia Tech and a heavy user of Buzzsearch. We used to have a previous system in place that was actually a resnet-created invention (browse.resnet.gatech.edu). However, with the increasing quality of buzzsearch and the aging code that powered browse.res, it was shut down and now our file-sharing is a student-run affair. Perhaps the biggest reason why our college support this (and many others should as well IMO) is bandwidth usage. Namely, external bandwidth usage (aka, the stuff your school PAYS for). It doesn't cost anything for our school to have me send a file from me to my roommate, but it costs a recurring fee of an OC12 line to send something to my friend in New Hampshire. Realistically, you could EASILY come accross to your school saying that you're saving their bandwidth costs wtih such a system in place. Plus, keeping it student-run will keep down on their liabilities. Oh, and you could always "lose" some logs if there's an incident :)
If I were you, I'd be fighting tooth and nail to keep that service up. You are browsing PUBLIC information. You're not exploiting some bug in an operating system. You're not spreading a virus accross campus. You're simply allowing students to find the stuff they want in a faster, less costly, and more privatized manner.
Put it back up and don't stop until they pull the plug. Then bitch and moan load enough to get them to allow you back up :)
Tim Dorr
Owner/Manger
A Small Orange
You should take a look at this line:
Unacceptable uses include, but are not limited to, the following
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Always standing, I am a tree awaiting the lightning. -Samael, Crown
Hasn't any of these students learned that the word "Peer" scares the living bejoovies out of netadmins running open networks these days? Any thought (or mention) of p2p brings to mind 100% bandwidth utilization.
Instead, call it a "Client-side SAN", or my favorite: "Internal Email Network over Windows-Induced File-Transfer-Mechanisms" (or IENWIFTM) the 'email' label gives it a freindly name.
Oh yah, and next time you get caught doing this, have your BOFH calendar handy. (This calendar gave me "Domain Controller not responding". It would have been a perfect explanation on your windows network. Tell them your proggie was actually a DC backup that kicked in and it was notifying all the windows clients that it was up.)
HURD - Hurd's Under Research & Development
Dear Slashdot,
I am a college student.
Several time a week, I walk into every office building and college dorm and attempt to open every door to see if the door is unlocked, and to see if something is inside. If the door is open, I walk in, take a picture, and catalog my findings in an MySQL database.
I don't think this is unethical, but the school admins don't like this.
I don't like being treated as a criminal. What do I do?
"I do not agree with their stance on this issue and I believe I have a right to design, implement, and make available such a service." Sorry pal, but not until you buy the bandwidth, the cable, the servers and the big Cisco box do you have the right. It's their network and they make the rules, even if it is make-it-up-as-you-go-along. Shut down your server, say you're sorry, get your degree, earn lots of money and buy your own network. Then you'll have the right to tell people what services they can run.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
It sounds like you don't have a full understanding of why they are upset with the system. It could be misperception or that you're causing a problem without realizing.
I would try to work (in person) with whomever contacted you, and try to understand why this makes their life difficult, and try to address though concerns.
Without knowing why they are upset, there is little anyone on Slashdot can do to help you.
-Bill
SlashSig Karma: Excellent (mostly affected by moderatio
When my friend was in residence (I was in my own house at the time), I helped him build a system very similar to the one you're describing. Exactly the same thing happened. IST found out about it, and shut it down. The reason they gave was that it was eating up internal bandwidth. When he inquired how his search system was eating up so much bandwidth, they told him it wasn't the search that was eating up bacndwidth, but the fact that everyone started getting files from other people's Windows Shares all the time. Now these aren't smart users either. They'd play files directly form others' HD's, without getting a local copy first.
Bottom line is, you may think you have some kind of right to do something like this, but the service is ultimately there for educational purposes. If you can convince them that you're using the search for educational purposes, you're in the clear. Otherwise, you're probably not going to get away with this one. Searching computers for random files, not related to your education, is not acceptable use, I'm sorry to say.
"Free beer tends to lead to free speech"
Since when do you have to have permission to browse public windows shares? The entire point of having them public (i.e., no password), is so you can do it with OUT permission. Sharing files publicly is the same thing as running a web server: anyone is able to access it, and they don't have to ask your permission to do so.
...but, would your opinion about the scanning change if Microsoft was doing it? Or the college itself?
The shares are open to the network but they are not legally open to people. I left my back door open this evening when I took out the trash, but that doesn't give you a right to enter my house through that open door and rifle through my unlocked desk drawers.
Can you or anyone cite a legal precedent that states someone who has open shares on a PC in their possession retains no right to the privacy of those shares, and that that data on those shares is legally accessible by anyone who can get to it?
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
I would just sign the agreement if I were you (although I have no idea what the punishment is going to be if you do). If your network admins aren't bright enough to see what you were doing was a non-intrusive search, you're not going to be able to sweet-talk them into believing you're not "hacking" people's computers.
I wrote/administer the aformentioned search engine, Buzzsearch, at Georgia Tech. I've never had a problem with the network staff - I do everything I can to be a good campus netizen (blocking off campus searching, for example) and they don't acknowledge that I exist. But I'm definitely not doing this for my "ideals", or to "fuck the man", yadda yadda... I sure as hell wouldn't risk my degree for Buzzsearch - if OIT came knocking on my door I'd hand over my server in a second flat.
You're in a bad environment with uncool admins... deal with it and give up. It's not worth possibly fucking up your education.
It's the college's private network, not his. He uses the network because the college grants him the privilege. They can withdraw that privilege. He has no "right" to use it.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
Exactly.
I'm work as a Unix tech at a University and I see this all the time. Rather than take what turns out to be a rather minor telling off (IE me in the office telling them what they did is bad and not to do it again) and throwing out a quick appology they'd rather stand there arguing the toss about it until the technician involved gets so fed up with them he escalates the incident higher and the student gets into real trouble. Just for being a cocky little sod.
We had a female student here almost get kicked out of the Uni for eating in the labs. She'd do it everyday and everyday someone would catch her while doing the rounds (We don't allow eating and drinking in our labs). She always accused the techs of lying and picking on her and then would carry right on doing it. She used to line up chips on the keyboard and eat them off one by one. Our academic director even caught her once and she still said we were lying.
After months of dancing around like this it was refered to the student discapline board and she got a final warning with the threat of being kicked out of the University.
We don't know what would have happened next since she failed her course and left anyway. However if she'd just accepted the initial telling off from whichever technician caught her and then waited until she'd finished in the lab before eating that would have been it. End of story.
Some people have no sense however. Tip for the story poster. Don't argue with it. Just sign the appology and forget about it. It'll be easier in the long run than getting kicked out of school.