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."

Comments

excessive data storage or network bandwidth

[mhesseltine]

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.

Welcome to the real world...

[Otter]

Sorry, but this isn't the sort of thing admins like, and it's not the sort of thing you can get away with. Just because you have read access to something doesn't mean you ought to be using it and certainly doesn't mean you'll be looked upon favorably if you write a tool to do it on a large scale.

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.

wow.

[timdorr]

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 :)

College network vs College dorms...

[Anonymous Coward]

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?

Umm, no.

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

"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.

Unfortunately, you're basically screwed

[nutsack]

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.