Student sues to regain Internet access

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

[Excerpts from the Dallas Morning News via the Computer Underground
Digest (tk0jut2 () mvs cso niu edu)]


========
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 93 10:51:37 CST
From: peterson () ZGNEWS LONESTAR ORG(Bob Peterson)
Subject: File 3--Student sues to regain Internet access


The August 17, 1993 (Volume 5, Issue 62) issue of CuD contained a
brief mention of Microsoft's termination of Mr. Gregory Steshenko,
apparently due to political statements he made in newsgroups and email.
Today's Dallas Morning News (Nov. 14, 1993: Vol. 145, No. 45) published
a front page article, with a jump to an interior page dedicated to the
story, describing Gregory Steshenko's encounter with the University of
Texas at Dallas over essentially the same issue.


Below I quote from the article.  I enclosed my summarizations in
square brackets.  A sidebar on the interior page describes, at a high
level, how messages flow in the Internet.  (I didn't include anything
from that sidebar.)


                 Free-speech suit focuses on E-mail
                Emigre at UTD lost access to network


        By Tom Steinert-Threlkeld
        Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News


Gregory N. Steshenko is not sure freedom of expression will survive
the digital age in the Western world.


Twice in the last five months, authorities in the United States have
pulled the plug on his comments on Ukrainian and Russian politics that
he has posted on the Internet, a network of computer networks that
spans the globe.


In June, he was fired from Microsoft Corp. after the big supplier of
personal computer software fielded dozens of complaints that his
messages were offensive and even obscene.


In October, he was disconnected again from the Internet by the
University of Texas at Dallas, where he is a graduate student in
electrical engineering.


[Note: One of Microsoft's regional telephone support centers is
located in the Dallas area, so Gregory probably didn't move after
leaving Microsoft. -BP)


The university withdrew his privileges after a barrage of complaints,
saying his electronic messages strayed from any possible educational
purposes.  Mr. Steshenko has countered with a lawsuit that seeks $2
million for damages to his career.


[Here the article jumps to page 28A, with the headline _Student sues
UTD over access to computer network_. -BP)


[... Steshenko asserts this is a First Amendment issue. -BP]


The university says the matter is more basic.  Mr. Steshenko simply
did not follow its rules, which limit use of the Internet to exchanges
related to coursework.


+++


"What makes it unique is that we're talking about a brand new
medium," said Shari Steele, counsel for the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, a group that tries to protect the freedom of individuals
who communicate by computer.


She and other legal experts say that government-funded institutions,
such as UTD, can't infringe First Amendment rights, even in electronic
forums.


[... Omitted text describing the school's position that they have the
right to control how their facilities are used, the absence of relevant
court rulings, the issue of permissible language in newsgroups, and the
general anarchy of newsgroups.]


Mr. Steshenko also retaliates against "denunciators."  He has sent
copies of what he says are personal attacks by on-line adversaries to
the chief executive officers of their employers, such large industrial
companies as Bell Communications Research Inc. and WilTel Inc.


"I can take a lot in stride, but if someone sends a posting to the
CEO of Bellcore (threatening) a lawsuit about me calling (him) a fool
and it has implications with my position here at the company, then I'm
going to get a little bit upset," said Andre Stynyk, a systems engineer
at Bell Communications Research Inc., the research arm of regional Bell
telephone companies.


Mr. Stynyk responded by complaining to UTD.  The university won't
acknowledge the sources of the complaints it received.


"Let's just say he (Mr. Steshenko) was not following the rules and we
received complaints from the outside.  After review, we determined that
he should not have the privileges anymore," said UTD president Robert
H. Rutford.


"The rules," in this case are not those of the Internet, but those of
UTD.  Like other universities, UTD becomes part of the Internet by
allowing outsiders into its computers and paying for the maintenance of
its on-campus computing and communications network.


When it allows students access to the Internet, the university
requires them to sign an agreement that they only use the resources of
the Internet for instructional, research or administrative purposes.


[... The article quotes (acting executive director of the Internet
Society) Howard Funk's assertion that the university can control how
its facilities are used.  Mr. Steshenko, in turn, asserts the
university's interpretation of "instructional" is too narrow.  -BP]


In hallways, classrooms and dormitories, for instance, students are
not limited to talking only about the classes they sign up for, notes
Marc Rotenberg, director of the Washington office of the Computer
Professionals for Social Responsibility.


"It's a little bit like taking a classroom for a club meeting after
classes end.  Maybe the university doesn't want you doing that," but it
may be hard to say students can't.


This could make the Steshenko case "a good test of free speech on
computer networks," he and Ms. Steele said, because the university not
only is an academic institution, but receives funding from state
government.


[... Comments about current case law extending prohibitions on laws
abridging free expression to "government-run institutions" and how the
Steshenko case may expand the prohibition to electronic exchanges of
ideas.  The article then describes the self-regulation of Usenet,
Compuserve, mailing lists, et al.]


The Internet Society's Mr. Funk, for instance, says Mr. Steshenko
would have avoided trouble at Microsoft and the university if he had
only used a personal account to access the Internet.  But Mr. Steshenko
rejects that as costly and says the primary issue is the exercise of
First Amendment privileges at a state-run institution.


Regardless, cooler commentary may be inevitable.  Mr. Stynyk, the
Bell systems engineer, believes that arguments on the Internet will
have to take on more "politically correct" terminology, as millions of
new, nontechnical subscribers log in to the Internet.


But Houston environmental scientist Larisa Streeter, whose husband's
employer was also contacted by Mr. Steshenko, says the Dallas site's
discourse does not "have anything to do with political correctness at
all.  It has to do with civil discussion."


She draws the analogy to allowing a member of the Ku Klux Klan to
participate in a forum on African-American affairs.


"It's fine.  You can have the Klan member there listening and
participating and having a discussion," she said.  But, Ms. Streeter
says, limits should be set if racial epithets start flying because
nothing is added to the discussion.


Ultimately, canceling access to the Internet altogether is seen by
Mr. Steshenko as an unfair abrogation of his rights as a student.


He maintains that other students using their Internet accounts can
join "news groups" that discuss anything from events in Haiti to sex.
If he is cut off from talking about Russia and Ukraine, he feels other
students shouldn't be permitted to participate in forums not related to
their coursework.


While the university does have a right to provide resources only for
particular purposes, "it really hinges on whether or not they really
don't permit the accounts to be used for anything other than the
studies," Ms. Steele said.


W.O. Shultz, associate general counsel for the University of Texas
system, says he does not know how the accounts are used by other
students or whether they have formed news groups or lists of their own.


If the university consistently enforces its limits on the use of the
Internet for instructional, research and administrative purposes, then
it is likely on safe ground, said Henry H. Perritt Jr., a Villanova
University professor of information technology law.


[... UTD investigates student use of the Internet only when they get a
complaint, which could leave an opening for Mr. Steshenko's suit, which
he drafted and filed himself. -BP]


If the university does not know how its students are using the
Internet, it is "going to have a very hard time saying" it is not
granting students the right to participate in electronic forums on
whatever subjects they please, Mr. Perritt said.


"If the university's argument is that "we claim the power to control
the use of our resources and direct the resources only for certain
purposes," then I don't see what that has to do with the complaints.
Then they have a duty to know what's going on,"  he said.


[End of article, which also features a four column by 5" photo of Mr.
Steshenko in front of an IBM PS/2.  The writer, Mr. Tom
Steinert-Threlkeld, covers technology stories for the paper. -BP]


Bob Peterson              Waffle BBS: peterson () ZGNews LoneStar Org
P.O. Box 865132           Internet: peterson () csc ti com  TelCo: 214 995-6080
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