Examining the Stevens Institute of Technology Acceptable Use Policy

Since we have been on the trend of digital rights in class I decided to check out the Stevens Acceptable Use Policyhttps://www.stevens.edu/itwiki/w/inde    x.php/Acceptable_Use_Policy (AUP). The AUP is a policy that determines what can, and cannot do while on the Stevens Institute of Technology's network. Everyone who uses the Stevens network are bound by this policy, it only seems reasonable that we should know what it includes. I was a little surprised by some of what I found in the AUP.

While reading through the policy, I found many points that were very reasonable. Most of the reasonable policies consisted of current laws, such as not being able to, "Harass, threaten, or otherwise invade the privacy of others" or "Cause breaches of computer, network or telecommunications security systems". This blog post isn't about how the AUP is good though. I found a few points that overly broad, and difficult to properly enforce. The points that really struck me as odd were not being able to use:

• Use of offensive or discriminatory language.
• Transmission of any graphic image, sound or text that is sexual in nature.
• Use of resources for personal profit or gain.
• Members of the campus community must maintain their computers with virus-protection software, spyware protection, and operating system updates.

Some people might argue that if you just follow the rules, you will have nothing to worry about. This cannot be true when the policies contain vague clauses such as the use of offensive language. The policies I listed cannot be reasonably enforced. If your friend messages you over Facebook, "God damn, I love this class", you are breaking the AUP. Even though you did not initiate the content, you could still be at fault. This even applies to ads that load in your browser. So if you visit a site that forces a pop-up to load "content that is sexual in nature", you have broken the AUP. From the ambiguity of the rules, it makes it very easy for someone to break these rules without even knowing they are.

Another issue to think about is, what would a student do if they did have "disciplinary and/or legal action" taken against them? Like most most students at Stevens, all of my classes make heavy use of online resources. Without being able to access the Internet while on campus, I would not be able to retrieve my assignments, email, and would not be able to do assignments like post this blog. Having the use of Stevens network taken away would severely affect the performance of any student. I am also curious if there are any art classes which require you to view/create images that are sexual in nature. Would students be breaking the AUP if they were required to make something for class that broke the rules?

The problem really is not the policies, they could always be changed to be more specific. The real problem is that no one is aware of these policies. Until I went out of my way to read the policies, I had no idea that they existed. And it looks like they have not been updated since 2004. Every student on campus is required to have a laptop, so that means every student on campus will eventually be bound by these policies. Should Stevens be responsible for ensuring that all incoming freshmen read, and agree to the service? These policies really need to be reviewed and updated to reflect how the Internet works.

Image credit:

• Seal if from Wikipedia
• Stevens Logo