From: kadie@eff.org (Carl M. Kadie)
Subject: Abstract of CAF-News 02.37
Originator: kadie@eff.org
Organization: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 15:54:00 GMT

This is an abstract for the most recent "Computers and Academic
Freedom News" (CAF-News). Information about CAF-News follows the
abstract. The full CAF-News is available via anonymous ftp or by
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The full CAF-News is also available via email. Send email to
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--- begin abstract ---
[Week ending August 2nd, 1992

   [Issues #28, #33, #34, #35, and #36 in production - Carl]

========================== KEY ================================
The words after the numbers are a short PARAPHRASES of the
articles, or QUOTES from them, NOT AN OBJECTIVE SUMMARY and
not necessarily my opinion.
===============================================================


Notes 1 to 3 concern whether or not to grant access to a deceased
user's account to the user's family.

1. "Today we [had] a very interesting and sensitive situation arise --
a user passed away and now the user's parents would like access to the
user's account."  Given that I feel a user's account to be private,
and that the account "may contain information that could be considered
`sensitive' or `revealing'" what should I do?
    <1992Jul23.215931.13522@menudo.uh.edu>

2. The executor of the user's estate should have the legal right - and
obligation - to inspect the user's account, along with all his or her
other effects.
    <1992Jul29.100142.21482@ms.uky.edu>

3. I doubt that the user's heirs or executors have the right to *use*
the account.  Whether they have a right to a copy of the files held in
the account is more difficult to determine.  Some of the files might
be the property of the owners of the machine.  It might be difficult
to decide which files were the user's personal property and which were
not.
    <1992Jul29.215819.15965@news.iastate.edu>


Notes 4 to 6 are part of a debate on censorship which has arisen in
the wake of the refusal of some Canadian universities to carry
alt.sex.* groups, and the publication of an article entitled
"Computers Graphic When it Comes to Porn" in the Canadian newspaper
_The Globe and Mail_.

4. "There are three main questions here:... (1) Is there erotic
material that, if it were readily available, would make some people
more prone to commit acts of rape and child sexual abuse?... (2) Is
the risk (in terms of infringement of general human rights) of
censoring such material so high that we should allow it to be
available anyway?... [and] (3) Where do you draw the line?"
    <1992Jul31.235725.25121@cs.sfu.ca>

5. "Don't shut people out of information, the more information we have
the wiser we become... I propose that the elimination of a.s.b. was an
elimination of a group comitted to the dissemination of information
with regards to a consensual activity, that sought to avoid any damage
to the psyche or body of it's practitioners.
    <hurd.712717031@sfu.ca>

6. This article, which seeks to correct the view of the Internet as a
public medium for the dissemination of "sleazy" material, has been
sent to the editor of the _Globe & Mail_.
    <philip.12@SMU.StMarys.CA>


Articles 7 to 9 are on miscellaneous subjects.

7. "You have every right, as the administrator, representing the owner
of the machine, to make certain restrictions.  Having Freedom of
Speech doesn't obligate anyone to Provide the Soap Box.  But it won't
do you a whole lot of good in the long run."
    <18937@fritz.filenet.com>

8. [Forwarded from the Computer Underground Digest] At a hearing this
week before the National Commission on Library and Information
Science, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR)
recommended a privacy policy for the National Research and Education
Network or `NREN.'
    <9207281913.AA11355@herodotus.cs.uiuc.edu>

9. The policy of the University of Kentucky's Engineering Computing
Centre will be that "The installation of recreational network
resources, such as MUD, Netrek, or IRC clients/servers, are explicitly
prohibited UNLESS these programs include use restrictions based on
time of day and number of users.  The installation of these resources
may only be performed by ECC staff."
    <1992Jul30.94721.2490@ms.uky.edu>

- Elizabeth]

--- end   abstract ---

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Disclaimer: This CAF-News abstract was compiled by a guest editor or a
regular editor (Paul Joslin, Elizabeth M. Reid, Adam C. Gross, Mark C.
Sheehan or Carl M. Kadie). It is not an EFF publication. The views an
editor expresses and editorial decisions he or she makes are his or
her own.

-- 
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent EFF; this is just me.
 =kadie@eff.org, kadie@cs.uiuc.edu =
Newsgroups: alt.comp.acad-freedom.talk