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University Networks Block Student Project

Posted by Soulskill on from the be-less-creative-next-time dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A computer science student at University College London put together FitFinder as a bit of a joke — it's been described as a cross between Twitter and personal ads, and it rapidly became very popular. The university took exception to this and started by blocking the site from being accessed on campus. Not content with this, a few weeks later it fined the student £300 and had him take the site down completely. Currently, the site is still offline, although there is a petition with several thousand signatures requesting its return. In the meantime, a site called PhitFinder has appeared, claiming to have no link to the original."

5 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. They're holding his degree ransom by Capt.+Skinny · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Sounds an awful lot like breach of contract -- he agreed to pay a certain amount of money in exchange for the university's services, but now the university is refusing to deliver those services unless he pays more than originally agreed upon.

  2. Re:what has the university to do with it? by 91degrees · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yes, but if someone says London without specifying a state or nation, typically we assume that they mean the greater London area around the capital of the UK. It being a major financial centre, a major university town, one of the worlds largest 20 cities (with a population well in excess of every other London added together). The only typical exception being when you are in the general vicinity of another London.

  3. Re:He should probably wander down to the law facul by 91degrees · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yes, but universities aren't private institutions. And UK law can be quite specific when it comes to legal status of universities. Not sure whether this affects anything, but you can't draw conclusions based on the legal status of a typical privately owned establishment.

  4. Re:what has the university to do with it? by skelterjohn · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There is a University College that is part of Rutgers University. "University" and "College" are both words. They have meaning.

  5. Re:Stop having control by forkazoo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Do you honestly think that you are bound to university's will just because you signed a paper? That they can simply decide that they don't like something you've done so you have to pay them 300 pounds? Seriously?

    They don't have the ability to jail you, but they can certainly sue for breach of contract. If you want to stay a student there, then they naturally have more authority over you and can put all sorts of extra terms on. I don't know if he would be liable for the fine if he decided to walk away from the school and abandon whatever he already paid in tuition.