2,000 Greater & Lesser Mysteries

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Text File | 1994-06-10 | 7.7 KB | 137 lines

MTU Policies Michigan Technological University (MTU) promotes the use of its computing facilities and seeks to improve the computer literacy of its students. All students are encouraged to make use of these facilities in pursuit of their academic goals, but are asked to remember that computing facilities are to be used for academic purposes only. MTU views the use of computer facilities as a privilege, not a right, and seeks to protect legitimate computer users by imposing sanctions on those who abuse the privilege. Eliminating computer abuse provides more computing resources for users with legitimate academic computing needs. MTU's computing policy is based on the laws of the State of Michigan and United States Copyright Law. In addition, MTU imposes certain restrictions which are not specifically covered by wither law. Besides setting guidelines for appropriate use of computers, MTU's policy outlines the disciplinary procedures that will be imposed on students who violate the policy. Such discipline may range from the revocation of computing privileges to expulsion from the University. The Law of the State of Michigan Act 53 of the Public Acts of 1979 of the State of Michigan is "AN ACT to prohibit access to computers, computing systems, and computer networks for certain fraudulent purposes; to prohibit intentional and unauthorized access, alteration, damage, and destruction of computers, computer systems, computer networks, computer software programs, and data; and to prescribe penalties." Examples of violations of Public Act 53 include: o Unauthorized attempts to access or use information. o Attempts to access the computer files belonging to another user without permission. o Attempts to interfere with the performance of computing systems. The penalties for violating this act are stated as follows: "A person who violates this act, if the violation involves $100.00 or less, is guilty of a misdemeanor. If the violation involved more than $100.00, the person is guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment for not more than ten (10) years, or a fine of not more than $5,000.00, or both." United States Copyright Law Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of "original works of authorship." This includes computer programs (software). Therefore, the unauthorized copying of copyrighted software is in violation of U.S. copyright laws. Additional restrictions imposed by MTU o Permitting another person to use a computer user identification (userid) or access card. o Using another person's userid or access card. o Using computing facilities for personal profit. o Transmitting unsolicited or annoying messages. o Transmitting, executing, or storing malicious, threatening, or abusive programs or material. o Playing games. Discipline Procedure Misuses of computer resources are reported to the Director of Academic Computing Services. The Director of Academic Computing Services can impose restrictions on the offender's computer privileged, report the offender to the Dean of Students, or initiate criminal prosecution. ----------- Cut here----------- Comments: ______________________ As I understand it, within the next month every current computer user of ACS machines (our IBM, our PCs, our SUNs, in fact nearly everything students CAN use) will have to sign and pledge to abide by this policy, or they will lose computing privileges. I personally can see many of the points in the document, though I have problems with it as well (part of my reason for posting it). For example, in sentence two, the policy states, 'computing facilities are to be used for academic purposes only.' Nowhere is there a definition of 'academic purposes' -- by one simple hypothesis, what I am doing now is in violation of the policy, since this does not involve my academic furthering at MTU (yes, I am a student, to graduate next year with luck and lots of cash). In the next sentence, 'legitimate computer users' and 'abuse the privilege' are more examples of empty wording, freely interpreted by Administration to whatever they choose. Under 'Additional Restrictions' we have 'Transmitting unsolicited or annoying messages' and 'Transmitting, executing, or storing malicious, threatening, or abusive programs or material.' Define solicited. Since saying 'Hi' to someone is unsolicited, so is 'You can talk to me'. Therefore, by a restrictive viewpoint, messaging is illegal (so is this, again, and any other e-mail not specifically asked for, though how it can be asked for is beyond me). We also need definitions of malicious, threatening, or abusive, beyond the blatantly obvious. While I am considered fairly conservative by many, I am a flaming liberal by many standards. What I consider malicious, threatening, or abusive is probably far away from our Administration's view. Yet there is no definition, so (in theory) any Consultant here could grab some output of mine, read through it (I have been told it is their JOB to read our output) and decide since I don't hold his/her opinions, I should get nuked. I would then be ordered to see the Director, whereupon I would be lectured at great length about how bad and evil I am because I hold liberal views. Now, before y'all out there start sending letters to the staff here telling them how much of a rebel I am, and how I should be purged for not supporting their policies 1000%... I want to make it known that, in PRINCIPLE, I support the policy. My computing experience here has, for the most part, been a good one, even though I have been yelled at a few times (mistakenly, though the error was not one-sided). I make wide and good use of the facilities here, and those of BITNET. I like to think that I have made a positive impact on computing at MTU, through my public disk (linked to by over 230 people), through my programs (many of which are now used at sites across the Net), and through my continual efforts to encourage people here to use the system responsibly. But I have noticed a trend in computing here, one which I think may be taking place at other sites, as well. Students are getting more and more cocky, administrators are getting restrictive, and the state of computing is falling. It need not be this way. If computing centers would educate their users in responsibility -- realize they make mistakes -- not treat every infraction, however minor, as if it were a first-degree homicide -- and try honestly to become user-friendly and user-accessible; if users would realize THEY are responsible for their acts -- try and make fewer, and smaller, mistakes -- think before they compute -- realize what they do CAN get their administration in trouble -- get to know their computing center staff, then I think we might see a big leap forward in the world of computing. It _CAN_ happen. It starts with YOU and ME. *dust off* There. I'll put my soapbox away, now. Thanks for putting up with me, sorry if I clogged up your readers with 'non-essential' mail. Virtually, David B. O'Donnell <LUTHER@MTUS5> ________________________________________________________________________ DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this file are solely my own and are not intended to represent those of anyone else save where their stated views match mine. In particular these views are not meant to suggest agreement with the views of my employer or university.