College tries to calm computer policy fears

Monday, May 11, 1998 | 10:01 a.m.

Community College of Southern Nevada President Richard Moore assured members of the Faculty Senate Friday that his administration is not interested in looking at the contents of anyone's computer files.

But his assurance brought little comfort to the executive director of the Nevada chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Gary Peck began a campaign to alert faculty and staff of the state's higher education system to dangers inherent in a proposed policy concerning use of the system's computers soon after he saw a copy of the policy, which has been circulating on campuses for more than a month.

Peck said the proposed policy is an assault on the basic principles of education -- freedom of speech, academic freedom and privacy.

"I am of the opinion we received no institutional assurances today these principles are not in danger," said Peck at the conclusion of the meeting held at CCSN's Cheyenne Avenue campus.

The proposed policy was authored by Carl Armstrong, counsel for the University and Community College System of Nevada.

Armstrong has said the policy is being circulated for feedback and is not in its final form.

He said a policy is needed because computer technology has expanded so rapidly regulations have not been able to keep pace with usage. That usage sometimes touches upon a variety of issues such as copyright infringement, pornography, software piracy, perpetuation of pyramid schemes and others.

The policy outlines the do's and don'ts pertaining to the use of university computers.

Moore said CCSN faced $3 million in liability lawsuits because some users of the college's computers installed copyrighted software programs they were not authorized to install.

"This is a situation where we are considered guilty until proven innocent," Moore said.

He said CCSN was able to reduce the liability figure down to between $50,000 and $60,000.

"We have no plan or desire to monitor content," Moore said in response to a question by John Esperian, head of the Nevada Faculty Alliance, during Friday's final Senate meeting of the school year. "But we do plan to monitor software."

He said he is looking into a software program that supposedly has the ability to monitor the programs in every computer on campus without looking at content.

"It can tell whether a program has been added," Moore said.

Elements in the policy draft some find questionable include:

Peck called the time frame outrageous, saying it does not allow a full and open discussion on the issue by the faculty and others concerned about the policy.

"The policy seems to suggest that students, faculty and staff have absolutely no privacy rights whatsoever," said Peck, who also is concerned about the use of many vague words and statements in the policy.

Peck said the policy leaves it up to the university administration to decide when it is appropriate to invade people's computer systems and examine the information stored there.

"It completely misses the way in which this violates the privacy rights of others about whom information is stored," he said.

The policy draft overview states that all of the computing resources of the university system, including such things as electronic mail, Internet and central computing facilities among others, are used to support the system.

Armstrong said since the state owns the computers and computer system, those who use them have no right of privacy and the administration has the right to control how it is used.

According to a statement in the overview: "This policy is not intended to limit CCSN community members from the free exercise of their First Amendment rights. Rather it is designed to emphasize the laws governing the use of computing resources."

But Peck said the policy as written does in fact violate First Amendment and other rights and would have a significant chilling effect on the way people use the technology.

Peck had planned to speak to the Faculty Senate at length about the policy, but said at the last minute he was scratched from the agenda, ostensibly because of time constraints.

As a compromise he was given about one minute to make his case and announce another meeting, sponsored by the Faculty Senate and the Faculty Alliance, at which he would be the featured speaker.

That meeting will take place at 2 p.m. Thursday at CCSN's Charleston Boulevard campus.

"I'm particularly concerned about being dropped from today's agenda in light of a letter seeming to imply some formal action would be taken on the proposed policy before the next Faculty Senate meeting, which won't be until the fall," Peck said.