Educause Security Discussion mailing list archives
Re: Procedure for Obscenity Cases
From: Ron Parker <rparker () BRAZOSPORT EDU>
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 07:40:52 -0600
1) I try to thoroughly document the situation and retain all relevant logs. I also make sure that I can positively identify the person involved. I don't rely on anyone's identification but my own. In other words, I have to have solid evidence of an incident and I have to link that evidence to the person involved. 2) I provide one warning, even though our student handbook is supposed to be required reading, but I'm not required to. I give a written warning that contains a copy of the policy. I retain a signed copy of the warning and give one to the student. Employees are handled by a memo to the human resources office on the first offense. We've never had to go any further with one of these cases. 3) Repeat violators, or first offenders who commit a more serious offense (or have other student conduct issues in the past), are referred to the Dean of Students. After meeting with me and the Dean, they generally are suspended for one semester or given a written warning by the Dean. Employees would be handled by the human resources office. We've never had to prosecute an employee. 4) Anything involving child pornography is immediately referred to the local police department. We have seen people prosecuted by the FBI and sent to prison based on these referrals so we have to be very sure we have done our homework. There's nothing quite like a visit to my office from two FBI special agents to make the point about how serious this stuff can be. 5) I got tired of dealing with so many incidents several years ago so we installed content filtering software (Websense) that works with our Checkpoint firewall. I realize that content filtering is a controversial issue for colleges but, from a practical/tactical standpoint, it is much better for our faculty who are trying to teach and the students who are trying to learn (the ones that aren't surfing porn sites during class). I've spent a lot less time in the Dean of Students office since we installed the software. I don't want to start a flame war about First Amendment and students rights but we've found the filtering to deter a lot of this activity. -- Ron Parker, Director of Information Technology, Brazosport College On Wed, 29 Oct 2003, Theresa Semmens wrote:
Would anyone like to share the formal procedures they use for inappropriate network and computer usage cases dealing with obscenity/pornography? Thanks. Theresa Semmens NDSU IT Security Officer North Dakota State University Fargo, ND 58101 701.231.5870 Theresa.Semmens () ndsu nodak edu This electronic mail message may contain privileged and confidential information. If the reader is not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible to deliver it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, disclosure, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication and any attached files may be strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately notify Information Technology Services contact by telephone at 701-231-5870, or by reply e-mail, and permanently delete the message from your system. Receipt by anyone other than the intended recipient is not a waiver of any privilege or immunity. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Discussion Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/cg/.
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Current thread:
- Procedure for Obscenity Cases Theresa Semmens (Oct 29)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: Procedure for Obscenity Cases Ron Parker (Oct 30)