From: kadie@eff.org (Carl M. Kadie)
Subject: Re: ONE YEAR AGO: New news censorship policy at Iowa State University
Originator: kadie@eff.org
Keywords: bogus!
Organization: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 02:24:11 GMT

linda@iastate.edu (Linda Hutchison) writes:

[...]
>Carl, I suppose I'm one of the "bad guys", being part of the Comp Ctr
>administration, and I can tell you that here at Iowa State University
>                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>we're not particularly affected or concerned with articles that appear in the
>Daily Iowan -- the University of Iowa student newspaper.
>                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then what did motivate the suppression policy? Here is the timetable:

Oct 18, 1991: A ISU sys admin reports that his committee has
              written a newsgroup policy based on Library policy. He
              calls this "the proverbial ounce of prevention."
Nov 25, 1991: The Daily Iowan publishes an article headlined 'UI
              Computer Files Contain Pornography'
Dec 12, 1991: Computation Center announces a new Netnews policy. 'The
              policy was not developed by the Comp Ctr committee which
    	      developed the original "open learning environment" policy.
	      [...] The policy was brought to the Comp Ctr Newsgroup
              committee who did not approve it. [...] The policy was
              brought to the University Computation Advisory Committee
              (Computation Center Advisory Sub-Committee) who did not
              approve it.' The policy mentions library policy and
              intellectual freedom, but ignores them. The policy
              acknowledges no legal advice. The policy restricts
              alt.drugs and other newsgroups, justifying the
              restriction (of alt.drugs) with vague references to
              "potential conflicts with law, (particularly with child
              protection and pornography law) or with policies such as
              the sexual harassment policy."
Feb 17, 1992: Policy is revised. The restriction on alt.drugs is
              dropped, as are the references to University Library
              policy and the American Library Association's
              "Intellectual Freedom Statement". Restrictions on
              on-line discussions of sex remain, as does an erroneous
              history of "alt" groups.


>As with many of the people posting reactions to the Usenet policy at ISU, you
>are unqualified to comment on why or how the policy originated since
>you were not at any of the meetings where the policy was discussed and were in
>no way involved in the development or implementation of the policy.

So what you are saying is that because the policy was developed behind
closed doors (without the participation of even the ISU Computation
Center Committee), public comment is invalid. I believe exactly the
opposite.

If the policy's critics are too ignorant to speak intelligently,
please educate us.

>We were and still are dealing with interpretation of state laws and are acting
>in response to recommendations from the university's legal advisors.

Neither version of the policy acknowledges any advice from the
University's legal advisors. As far as I know, your note is the first
public assertion that the University's legal advisors have had
anything to do with the policy. Can you give details? Were they
involved in the first version of the policy? The second?  What is
their response to the criticism (by lawyers such as Mike Godwin) that
the policy's legal reasoning is unsound. The State obscenity law
exempts the University, so why is it mentioned? Have the contacted
the Parks Library with the advise to restrict material there? If not,
why not.

[...]
>A fact that keeps getting totally ignored is that no student, faculty or staff
>member is denied access to any newsgroup.  Get a username on the HDS.  I agree
>the newsreader there is less fully-featured than the newsreaders on PV and
>other systems.
[...]

I believe an account on WYLBER (the inconvenient HDS system) is only
one requirement. User's must also sign a form saying that they want
access to alt.sex, etc. (I.e. They must sign a "pervert list".)

I am careful and use the word "restricted" rather than "banned" when
referring to the status of, for example, alt.sex. I note that the
American Library association defines censorship as "The change in the
access status of material, made by a governing authority or its
representatives. Such changes include: exclusion, restriction,
removal, or age/grade level changes."

>Now back to being a spectator vs. a participant in this discussion.  I just
>get really peeved at uninformed, outside observers stepping and making
>comments that receive blanket acceptance from a segment of the readers of this
>group.
[...]

Please remain a participant. Uninformed observers (both inside and
outside ISU) can only because informed with your help.

- Carl


ANNOTATED REFERENCES

(All these documents are available on-line. Access information follows.)

=================
news/cafv01n36: Message-Id: <1991Oct18.025306.11694@news.iastate.edu>
=================
An article from the Computers and Academic Freedom News 01.36

Notes 10-12 are about the application of library policy to newsgroups.

10. (Computer administrator at Iowa State:) Having a selection policy
based on Library policy is the proverbial ounce of prevention.

=================
news/cafv01n42: Message-Id: <9300@ns-mx.uiowa.edu>
=================
An article from the Computers and Academic Freedom News 01.42

Note 9 is about the Alt.sex flap at U of Iowa.

9.   "Today's Daily Iowan, Monday Nov. 25, 1991, has joined the fray.  On
the top of page 3A, on the left, is the headline 'UI Computer Files Contain
Pornography', followed by the same kind of incisive reporting of the alt.sex
newsgroups that we have been used to from the print media.  The article does
mention that the "pornography" is carried by USENET, but no mention is made 
of other material on USENET.  The article indicates that the U of I computers
contain "over 70,000 pages" of pornography, which is nonsense -- this 
is roughly the total number of postings that have been delivered to Iowa's 
machines over USENET, but nobody at the DI seems to have noticed that things
get deleted on a regular basis."

=================
policies/old.iastate.edu
=================
* Edu -- Iowa State U. -- Old

The original Netnews policy for Iowa State University that took effect in
January, 1992.
(Critiqued)

=================
news/cafv01n45: Message-Id: <1991Dec15.163311.4917@news.iastate.edu>
=================
An article from the Computers and Academic Freedom News 01.45

Notes 2-4 are about Iowa State University's restrictions on who can
see newsgroups such as alt.sex.

4. The policy was imposed by the Computation Center without the
approval of the Computer Center Newsgroup committee or University
Computation Center Advisory Sub-Committee.
    <1991Dec15.163311.4917@news.iastate.edu>

=================
policies/netnews.iastate.edu
=================
* Edu -- Iowa State U. -- Netnews

The revised Netnews policy for Iowa State University that took effect in
February, 1992.
(Critiqued)

=================
news/cafv02n11: Message-Id: <3198@ecicrl.ocunix.on.ca>
=================
An article from the Computers and Academic Freedom News 02.11

Note 10 discusses the history of altnet, the set of "alt" groups.

10. Contrary to the 'history' given in the Iowa State University
policy, the alt groups were not created by a 'collective group of
Usenet "news administrators"' as a place for dangerous topics. In
fact, the alt groups were created to fight the suppression of the
collective group.

=================
news/cafv01n45: Message-Id: <1991Dec19.175822.21404@eff.org>
=================
An article from the Computers and Academic Freedom News 01.45

Notes 2-4 are about Iowa State University's restrictions on who can
see newsgroups such as alt.sex.

2. [Mike Godwin, staff counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation:]
Although the policy's stated purpose is to avoid violations of law, in
fact, all (or almost all) of the material restricted is legal and
Constitutionally protected.

=================
news/cafv02n30: Message-Id: <1992May11.132630.23905@news.iastate.edu>
=================
An article from the Computers and Academic Freedom News 02.30

Note 4-5 discuss Iowa State University's and the University of Nebraska
at Lincoln's rationalizations for censorship.

4. In reply to a previous assertion that "Iowa State and U. of
Nebraska are using the possibilities of NSF intervention as reason to
censor newsgroups.  Neither institutions are citing any other
university, state, or federal regulations for their actions."  ISU
admins have cited Chapter 728, [Iowa's Obscenity Law] though it
exempts libraries and educational institutions.

=================
library/censorship.def.ala
=================
* Definition of "Censorship" and Related Terms (ALA)

=================
=================

If you have gopher, you can browse the CAF archive with the command
   gopher gopher.eff.org

These document(s) are also available by anonymous ftp (the preferred
method) and by email. To get the file(s) via ftp, do an anonymous ftp
to ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4), and get file(s):

  pub/academic/news/cafv01n36
  pub/academic/news/cafv01n42
  pub/academic/policies/old.iastate.edu
  pub/academic/news/cafv01n45
  pub/academic/policies/netnews.iastate.edu
  pub/academic/news/cafv02n11
  pub/academic/news/cafv01n45
  pub/academic/news/cafv02n30
  pub/academic/library/censorship.def.ala

To get the file(s) by email, send email to archive-server@eff.org.
Include the line(s) (be sure to include the space before the file
name):

send acad-freedom/news cafv01n36
send acad-freedom/news cafv01n42
send acad-freedom/policies old.iastate.edu
send acad-freedom/news cafv01n45
send acad-freedom/policies netnews.iastate.edu
send acad-freedom/news cafv02n11
send acad-freedom/news cafv01n45
send acad-freedom/news cafv02n30
send acad-freedom/library censorship.def.ala
-- 
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent EFF; this is just me.
 =kadie@eff.org, kadie@cs.uiuc.edu =
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk