From: kadie@eff.org (Carl M. Kadie)
Subject: Re: putting lyrics to "Cop Killer" in .plan file
Originator: kadie@eff.org
Organization: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 15:35:30 GMT

In article <mumble>, jbw@bigbird.bu.edu (Joe Wells) writes:
[...]
> I recently put the lyrics to "Cop Killer" by Ice-T in my .plan file so
> that it shows up when someone else does "finger jbw@cs.bu.edu".
[...]
> I am seeking arguments to use against a possible attempt to censor me.
[...]

jaw@is.rice.edu (Joseph A. Watters) writes:

>Here's where you need to be careful.  There is an important distinction
>to be made in your case.  You do have the right to personal expression
>as delineated in the First Amendment to the U.S.  Constitution.  You
>*do not* have the right to demand that someone else supply you a venue
>for that expression.
[...]

Depends. The First Amendment is not the only document that protects
free speech. The student code (and even the computer code) at some
universities does to. These are contractual rights as contrasted with
the First Amendment's constitutional rights.

Get a copy of your student code and see what your contractual rights
are.

As a student, many believe you also have a moral right to free
expression.  This is outlined in documents such as the Joint Statement
on Rights and Freedoms of Students.

- Carl

ANNOTATED REFERENCES

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

=================
student.freedoms
=================
Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students -- This is the main
statement on student academic freedom.

=================
law/constraints.contractual
=================
Comments from _A Practical Guide to Legal Issues Affecting College
Teachers_. Explains that University Code is part of the contract
between the student and school. The University can be liable for a
breach of the contract (i.e. for not following its own rules).

=================
policies/bostonu.edu
=================
Ethics policy for Boston University Information Technology
(Critiqued)

=================
policies/bostonu.edu.critique
=================
Critique of the ethics policy for Boston University Information Technology

Summary: 'In the name of protecting privacy, the policy attacks
privacy. It says the University has the power to "without notice, ...
inspect ... any data [or] file". It imposes speech restrict[ion]s that
would be ridiculed if applied to the campus as a whole. It says the
user may not "mak[e] accessible offensive [or] annoying material"'

=================
banned.1991
=================
A list of computer material that was banned at universities during (or
before) 1991. It summarizes incidents and policies at Ohio State U.,
the U. of Illinois (two campuses), Case Western U., Boston U., U. of
Waterloo, U.  of Toledo, Western Washington U., Iowa State U.,
Pennsylvania State U., U. of Texas, U. of Newcastle, James Madison U.,
U. of Wisconsin, and others.

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

These document(s) are 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/student.freedoms
  pub/academic/law/constraints.contractual
  pub/academic/policies/bostonu.edu
  pub/academic/policies/bostonu.edu.critique
  pub/academic/banned.1991

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 student.freedoms
send acad-freedom/law constraints.contractual
send acad-freedom/policies bostonu.edu
send acad-freedom/policies bostonu.edu.critique
send acad-freedom banned.1991



-- 
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent EFF; this is just me.
 =kadie@eff.org, kadie@cs.uiuc.edu =
Xref: sparky alt.comp.acad-freedom.talk:2377 alt.censorship:6222 alt.sex:24959 tor.general:993