I'm sorry, but I must respectfully disagree. I DO get it, and have been following this issue for some time. The article leaves out very important information regarding a recent FCC clarification regarding higher education. Here is a quote from a March 10 article in the "Chronicle of Higher Education"
The Federal Communications Commission has clarified how it wants colleges to comply with an order to re-engineer their computer networks so the government can monitor online communications. And the agency's explanation is heartening for colleges, which had feared having to spend billions of dollars on new systems to meet the government's surveillance needs.
In a brief filed last week in federal court here, the FCC indicated that colleges would need to redesign their networks so the government could monitor e-mail messages and other electronic communications flowing into and out of campuses, but not within campuses.
My understanding is the most recent rulemaking by the FCC states that colleges and universities would only need to provide the "wiretap" capability for traffic going to and from the campus and the Internet. As such, a wholesale replacement of all routers and switches on campus would not be necessary; most likely some edge equipment and possibly some VLAN switching.
Of course, the cost complaint ignores the ongoing privacy versus security debate.
In any event, there is an excellent resource for higher education's position on this issue at EDUCAUSE. See http://www.educause.edu/calea
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I'm sorry, but I must respectfully disagree. I DO get it, and have been following this issue for some time. The article leaves out very important information regarding a recent FCC clarification regarding higher education. Here is a quote from a March 10 article in the "Chronicle of Higher Education"
You can see the full article here: http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i27/27a03002.htm
My understanding is the most recent rulemaking by the FCC states that colleges and universities would only need to provide the "wiretap" capability for traffic going to and from the campus and the Internet. As such, a wholesale replacement of all routers and switches on campus would not be necessary; most likely some edge equipment and possibly some VLAN switching.
Of course, the cost complaint ignores the ongoing privacy versus security debate.
In any event, there is an excellent resource for higher education's position on this issue at EDUCAUSE. See http://www.educause.edu/calea