🚀 go-pugleaf

jc@raven.bu.edu (James Cameron) writes:
[...]
>[...here's the ethics policy...]
> 
>     Boston University Information Technology                          ethics
> 
>     Conditions of Use and Policy on Computing Ethics          March 26, 1990
[...]

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 restricts 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"

It is incomplete, saying that that required behavior "is not
limited to [] the following: [...]"

It is circular. It prohibits users from misusing computer resources by
"misusing system resources".

It is ephemeral, saying that the University has the power "amend these
Conditions and Policies at any time without prior notice."


Imagine this policy generalized to the University as a whole:

* The University has the power to, without notice, inspect any assigned
office space or dorm room.

* Members of the University community may not distribute or make
accessible offensive or annoying material.

* Members of the University community may be punished for infractions
against rules that are not listed here.

* Members of the University community must not "misuse University
property", where "misusing University property" is defined as misusing
University properity.

* The University has the power "amend these Conditions and Policies at
any time without prior notice."
-- 
Carl Kadie -- kadie@eff.org or kadie@cs.uiuc.edu -- But I speak for myself.