From: kadie@eff.org (Carl M. Kadie)
Subject: Abstract of CAF-News 02.11
Followup-To: alt.comp.acad-freedom.talk,comp.org.eff.talk,comp.admin.policy,alt.censorship,soc.college
Originator: kadie@eff.org
Organization: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 15:16:31 GMT

This newsgroup (or a closely related newsgroup) has been banned on
some academic facilities. Enclosed is the abstract of a Computer and
Academic Freedom News that reports on the ban.

Follow up is directed to alt.comp.acad-freedom.talk, comp.admin.policy, etc.

===============================================
This is an abstract for the most recent "Computers and Academic
Freedom News" (CAF-News). Information about CAF-News followings the
abstract. The full CAF-News is available via email. Send email
to archive-server@eff.org. Include the line:
  send caf-news cafv02n11

--- begin abstract ---
[Best of February 1992

[....]
========================== KEY ================================
The words after the numbers are a short PARAPHRASES of the
articles, NOT AN OBJECTIVE SUMMARY and not necessarily my opinion.
Many of the paraphrases are based on earlier paraphrases by Paul,
Elizabeth, and Adam.
===============================================================

Notes 1-4 discuss newsgroup removals rationalized by creative
interpretations of law. Sites around the world have found this an
effective way to ban almost any topic, for example, war, drugs, gay
rights, crime, rape, abortion, and sex (including recovery from sexual
abuse and United Press International stories mentioning sex).

1. SWITCH, the federal institution which provides the network
connections between Swiss universities, has decided to refuse to carry
certain Usenet newsgroups on the grounds that they *might* be illegal
under Swiss law. Newsgroups banned include alt.drugs,
alt.politics.homosexuality, clari.news.terrorism.
    <1992Feb20.180752@sic.epfl.ch>

2. (A person in Ireland:) "The computer/censorship issue related to
the fact that only crosspostings to the group _talk.abortion_ appear
here."  If a posting to such a group had information on how to procure
an abortion, are we any more liable than a library with an English
telephone directory which has the phone number of an abortion clinic?
    <1992Feb24.222848.12187@maths.tcd.ie>

3. This is a parody of the Iowa State University policy that bans
discussions of sex (and previously drugs). It shows what the policy
might say if it were honest. It starts "We, a handful of individuals
in the Iowa State University Computation Center, have imposed a policy
on the distribution of Usenet newsgroups. ...  The purpose of this
statement is to provide an after-the-fact justification of a decision
that we made without looking at the academic freedom issues."
    <1992Feb23.201324.12799@m.cs.uiuc.edu>

4. Carnegie Mellon University promotes self-censorship by its threats
to investigate of Eric Jefferson on charges of sexual harassment
unless he stops writing public articles that some find offensive.
    <46750.298C2BB3@psycho.fidonet.org>

Notes 5-7 are about privacy.

5. A user on this system was apparently running a password cracking
program.  An administer searched my files and found I had a copy of
the newest version of Crack.  I have legitimate reasons for having
this program.  I have received mail from the Chairman of the
Department "inviting" me to discuss my account privileges. "It really
bothers me that I'm going to get in a lot of trouble (probably anyway)
just for the mere possession of a program."
    <9202161945.AA24863@bsu-cs.bsu.edu>

6. [From Brewster Kahle, the operator of the directory of servers in
the WAIS system:] The new breed of "digital librarians" must consider
the ethical obligations which follow from their privileged position
with regard to the users whom they serve.
    <fyi.199202191413.AA07128@eff.org>

7. Under what circumstances can the university disclose personal
information about a student computer user, say, through 'finger'?
Enclosed excerpts from the Family Education and Privacy Rights of Act
provide a partial answer.
    <1992Feb6.233159.24859@m.cs.uiuc.edu>

Note 8 concerns a system administrator's policy of acting quickly in
case of rules violations. Often a student's account is restricted for
days.

8. (A student:)  On a Friday afternoon I discovered all my accounts at
the University Of Aston in Birmingham, England had been disabled.  I
was told that something I was running was congesting the network.  To
sort things out I needed to meet with the head of the department, by
appointment, on the following Tuesday.
    <1992Feb26.192151.6435@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>

Note 9 discusses the issue of TERMINUS, a terminal server at MIT
which allows users to connect to any port of any Internet connected
machine and which has been seen as a security threat by the NSFnet.

9. The NSF cannot be expected to cut off MIT or TERMINUS any more than
the phone company could be expected to disconnect MIT's phones just
because someone used their phone lines to break into a system. If
anything will shut down TERMINUS it will be the privatization of the
network which will no longer allow them to put the onus of security
onto other sites.
    <1992Feb18.215827.4@sdg.dra.com>

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.
    <3198@ecicrl.ocunix.on.ca>

- Carl]

--- end   abstract ---

CAF-News is a weekly digest of notes from CAF-talk.

CAF-News is available as newsgroup alt.comp.acad-freedom.news or via
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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, 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, or (anonymous) ap.3619@layout.berkeley.edu=