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Banned Computer Material 1992

Inspired by Banned Book Week '92, this is a list of computer material that was banned or challenged in academia in 1992. Iowa State University has the dubious distinction of being listed most often (three times).

The list proper starts after a list of the academic institutions where bans or challenges have occurred. The list proper is followed by instructions on how to get more information about specific incidents and then by instructions on how to get general information about computers and academic freedom.

Please send reports, corrections, and updates to either caf-talk@eff.org (a public mailing list) or kadie@eff.org (private).

-- Carl Kadie, kadie@eff.org, co-editor Computer and Academic Freedom News Disclaimer: I do not represent EFF; this is just me. version: 1.09

============= Academic Institutions ================== USA Ball State University Boston University (i) Carnegie Mellon University Iowa State University (i) North Dakota State University Princeton University of California at Berkeley (site of an unsuccessful challenge) University of Massachusetts at Boston University of Nebraska at Lincoln University of Wyoming Virginia Public Education Network Virginia Tech Williams College (the college not directly involved) Canada Canadian universities Simon Fraser University University of British Columbia University of Manitoba University of Toronto (site of an unsuccessful challenge) University of Ottawa Wilfrid Laurier University (i) Wilfrid Laurier University (ii) Europe Irish universities German universities Middle East Technical University in Turkey United Kingdom Net Updates Iowa State University (ii) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (ban ended) Continuing Boston University (ii) Iowa State University (iii) James Madison University Pennsylvania State University University of Newcastle University of Texas University of Toledo Western Washington University (& University of Washington)

=============== List of Banned Computer Materials ==============

+ USA:

Computer code at *Ball State University* to crack passwords ... even if it is never run. During a system-wide search, an administrator found the computer code. The user says "[i]t really bothers me that I'm going to get in a lot of trouble (probably anyway) just for the mere possession of a program." REFERENCE: news/cafv02n11:<9202161945.AA24863@bsu-cs.bsu.edu>

Lyrics to Ice-T's Cop Killer in a .plan file at *Boston University* "Two people have complained to my department's chair... .He asked me informally to remove it. I told him I would not do so voluntarily." REFERENCE: news/cafv02n35:<JBW.92Jul16195814@bigbird.bu.edu>

Articles in an open bulletin board at *Carnegie Mellon University* if they offend The University threatened to investigate the author on charges of sexual harassment unless he stopped writing. news/cafv02n11:<46750.298C2BB3@psycho.fidonet.org> news/cafv02n08:<1992Jan28.223429.20426@eff.org>

Material from the rec.arts.erotica newsgroup at *Iowa State University* To protest the University's ban of this newsgroup, a student reposted some of the articles to newsgroup isu.newsgroups. He was summarily expelled from the University computers. Later his account was restored. The incident made the front page of the student newspaper. news/cafv02n30:<1992May6.033143.16713@eff.org> news/cafv02n30:<1992May8.064304.8364@news.iastate.edu>

All "offensive" material at *North Dakota State University* Banned by the Policy on Misuse of Computer Facilities news/cafv02n20:<1992Apr27.214917.13402@eff.org>

Any electronic posting at *Princeton* that demeans a person because of his or her beliefs banned by Princeton's Guidelines for the use of Campus and Network Computing Resources and the more general Rights, Rules, Responsibilities Policy. news/cafv02n20:<199204292110.AA23705@eff.org> news/cafv02n20:<1992Apr29.213206.24214@eff.org>

Anti-Semitic material available at the *University of California at Berkeley* via the Internet ... challenged by a student, but the University and the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith said that censorship would be inappropriate. news/cafv02n07:<kpgo3cINNvq@news.bbn.com>

All .plan files at the *University of Massachusetts at Boston* that would not be given a PG-13 rating news/cafv02n39:<BETSYS.92Aug3155829@ra.cs.umb.edu>

All the alternative newsgroups (even alt.censorship) at the *University of Nebraska at Lincoln* ... because someone might find some of the articles in some of the newsgroups "objectionable". On April 6th the UNL Academic Senate Executive Committee voted to request restoration of the majority of the alt.* groups, but none have been restored. news/cafv02n22:<1992Mar26.214421.26447@sparky.imd.sterling.com> news/cafv02n22:<9203212232.AA24018@cse.unl.edu> news/cafv02n23:<1992Apr1.192701.28737@eff.org> news/cafv02n23:<9205040334.AA04565@cse.unl.edu> news/cafv02n23:<fwd.9204201540.AA12109@herodotus.cs.uiuc.edu> news/cafv02n30:<1992May5.005813.281@eff.org>

Computer code at the *University of Wyoming* for Internet Relay Chat A student was told that if university searches turned up IRC code in his possession, he "would be disusered without hope for reinstatement." news/cafv02n08: <3803321809011992_A11466_POSSE_11614C9F3200@mrgate.uwyo.edu>

Any network use on *Virginia Public Education Network* that violates "generally accepted social standards" Such use is defined as "obscene" and is banned by PEN's Acceptable Use Policy. policies/virginia.pen.edu policies/virginia.pen.edu.critique

Any "unwarranted annoyance" or "unsolicited email" at *Virginia Tech* ... banned by the Information System's Appropriate Use Policy. The policy is currently being revised. news/cafv02n20:<1992Apr27.214917.13402@eff.org>

The phrase "George Bush and his people need a bullet in the head" posted to the Net from *Williams College* The posting led to a U.S. Secret Service and grand jury investigation. news/cafv02n29:<1992Jun11.001601.29258@morrow.stanford.edu>

+ Canada:

alt.sex.bondage and other "pornographic writing" anywhere in *Canada*. ... challenged in a CBC Radio show reporting that some police consider these legally obscene, and would like to suppress them if possible. (The police haven't acted, but their statements may have caused some sites to ban material.) news/cafv02n30:<telecom12.427.9@eecs.nwu.edu>

All Netnews discussions of sex at *Simon Fraser University* The _Globe and Mail_ quotes the director of academic computing services: "It's the same as if somebody wants Playboy or Penthouse. We don't have them in the university library." In fact, SFU has _Playboy_ in its library. news/cafv02n38:<1992Jul21.164722.252@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> news/cafv02n37:<philip.12@SMU.StMarys.CA>

All "vulgar", "reprehensible", "pornographic", or "poison[ous]" material that might be accessed from, created on, or stored on *University of British Columbia* computing equipment starting with newsgroups alt.sex and rec.arts.erotica ... banned by order of the president of the University news/cafv02n39:<DALTON.92Jul31231305@oligo.Geop.UBC.CA>

All Netnews discussions of sex at the *University of Manitoba* ... banned the day after a critical article in the Winnipeg Free Press news/cafv02n21:<1992May10.093635.27536@ccu.umanitoba.ca> news/cafv02n38:<1992Jul21.164722.252@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> news/cafv02n37:<philip.12@SMU.StMarys.CA> news/cafv02n26:<1992May28.010057.18609@cs.sfu.ca> news/cafv02n30:<1992May31.080939.25516@clarinet.com>

All on-line material related to sex at *University of Toronto* ... challenged in a broadcast by CITY-TV (an independent Toronto television station) that suggested the U. of Toronto should deal with the "problem" like U. of Manitoba did, that is, by banning the material. The U. of Toronto resisted the challenge and refused to censor the material. news/cafv02n34:<1992Jul7.150830.27316@ccu.umanitoba.ca> policies/utoronto.ca news/cafv02n37:<philip.12@SMU.StMarys.CA> news/cafv02n33:<1992Jun16.045026.15800@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca>

The alt.sex* newsgroups at the *University of Ottawa* cases/wlu.ca

All "profane" computer file names at *Wilfrid Laurier University* news/cafv02n40:<1992Aug13.182157.5688@m.cs.uiuc.edu>

The alt.sex* newsgroups at *Wilfrid Laurier University* ... because the administration thinks they are "offensive" and "puerile". cases/wlu.ca

+ Europe:

Newsgroups at *many German universities* that discuss sex, including discussion of recovery from sexual abuse ... banned in response to an article in the German paper "EMMA" . news/cafv02n23:<199204201927.AA07124@eff.org>

Netnews discussion in *Ireland* of abortion news/cafv02n11:<1992Feb24.222848.12187@maths.tcd.ie>

Netnews discussion via Switzerland's SWITCH of gay rights, of drugs and drug policy, and of sex and recovery from sexual abuse. Also, United Press International articles related to terrorism or sex SWITCH is an academic network consortium. The official rational is that this information *might* be illegal under Swiss law. news/cafv02n22:<1992Mar2.135005.14877@neptune.inf.ethz.ch> news/cafv02n11:<1992Feb20.180752@sic.epfl.ch> news/cafv02n13:<16825.9203091724@pyr.swan.ac.uk>

All on-line political or religions "activism" at *Middle East Technical University in Turkey* news/cafv02n21:<1992May4.223243.28741@eff.org>

Newsgroups alt.sex*, alt.drugs, alt.evil, alt.tasteless and rec.arts.erotica on *United Kingdom Net* UKNet is commercial network that connects most academic institutions in the United Kingdom. They say that they fear UK law. news/cafv02n33:<1992Jun08.165434.4998@bas-a.bcc.ac.uk> news/cafv02n30:<1992May19.093311.105@rdg.dec.com>

+ Updates:

Most on-line discussion of sex at *Iowa State University* Iowa State University restricts access to these newsgroups. The rational for the restriction is Iowa's Obscenity law. That law, however, explicitly exempts universities. Since the original restrictions were started rec.arts.erotica has been added to the restricted list, while discussion of drugs and drug policy were removed. news/cafv02n11:<1992Feb23.201324.12799@m.cs.uiuc.edu> news/cafv02n11:<3198@ecicrl.ocunix.on.ca> news/cafv02n08:<1992Jan24.160039.20161@news.iastate.edu> news/cafv02n30:<1992May11.132630.23905@news.iastate.edu>

Email send to or from the National Center for Supercomputer Applications (NCSA) that verbally attacks the Center or the *University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign* No longer grounds for a computer file search case/ncsa.email news/cafv02n33:<1992Jun2.011050.15719@m.cs.uiuc.edu>

+ No Changes Reported:

Any computer files at *Boston University* that anyone else finds offensive or annoying The rules at Boston University prohibit a computer user from "making accessible offensive [or] annoying ... material". news/cafv01n10

All rude articles at *Iowa State University* On-line rudeness is prohibited by Iowa State computer policy. A student was reprimanded for posting a rude article to the net. news/cafv01n38 news/cafv02n23:<1992Apr2.174625.23219@eff.org>

All email containing "offensive" material at *James Madison University* news/cafv01n39

The alt.sex.* hierarchy on PSUVM, the main general purpose computer at *Pennsylvania State University* news/cafv01n34

All offensive messages at *University of Newcastle* news/cafv01n39

All email or Netnews articles that "bring discredit" to the *University of Texas* or its Computer Science Department" news/cafv01n37

The alt.sex newsgroup at the *University of Toledo* batch/oct_06_1991

More than a dozen newsgroups, including alt.sex, at *Western Washington University* They were removed from Western Washington University on the order of one person, the Vice Provost for "information and communication". Alt.sex remains at the *University of Washington*, but other newsgroups were removed right before a negative article was printed in the Seattle _Post Intelligencer_. news/cafv01n33 news/cafv01n36 news/cafv01n35 news/cafv01n41

========= How to get more information about an incident =========

Following each item in the list above is one or more references. For example: news/cafv02n11:<9202161945.AA24863@bsu-cs.bsu.edu> news/cafv01n10 policies/virginia.pen.edu cases/wlu.ca batch/oct_06_1991

In the first example, "news/cafv02n11" is the name of a file and "<9202161945.AA24863@bsu-cs.bsu.edu>" is a message-id within the file. The other example references consist of just file names. If a reference includes a message-id, retrieved the named file first, then edit it and do a text search for that message-id.

The files are available by anonymous ftp (the preferred method) and by email. To get the files via ftp, do an anonymous ftp to ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4), and "get" the files.

For example:

get pub/academic/news/cafv02n11 get pub/academic/news/cafv01n10 get pub/academic/policies/virginia.pen.edu get pub/academic/cases/wlu.ca get pub/academic/batch/oct_06_1991

To get the files by email, send email to archive-server@eff.org. For the files in the example, the email should contain the lines:

send acad-freedom/news cafv02n11 send acad-freedom/news cafv01n10 send acad-freedom/policies virginia.pen.edu send acad-freedom/cases wlu.ca send acad-freedom/batch oct_06_1991

========== Other Information of Possible Interest ===========

All these documents are available on-line. Access information follows.

================= caf ================= A description to the comp-academic-freedom-talk mailing list. It is a free-forum for the discussion of questions such as: How should general principles of academic freedom (such as freedom of expression, freedom to read, due process, and privacy) be applied to university computers and networks? How are these principles actually being applied? How can the principles of academic freedom as applied to computers and networks be defended?

================= banned.1991 ================= A list of computer material that was banned at universities during (or before) 1991. It summarizes incidents and policies at Ohio State U., the U. of Illinois (two campuses), Case Western U., Boston U., U. of Waterloo, U. of Toledo, Western Washington U., Iowa State U., Pennsylvania State U., U. of Texas, U. of Newcastle, James Madison U., U. of Wisconsin, and others.

================= statements/caf-statement ================= This is an attempt to codify the application of academic freedom to academic computers. It reflects our seven months of on-line discussion about computers and academic freedom. It covers free expression, due process, privacy, and user participation.

Comments and suggestions are very welcome (especially when posted to CAF-talk). All the documents referenced are available on-line. (Critiqued).

================= statements/caf-statement.critique ================= This is a critique of an attempt to codify the application of academic freedom to academic computers. It reflects our seven months of on-line discussion about computers and academic freedom. It covers free expression, due process, privacy, and user participation.

Additional comments and suggestions are very welcome (especially when posted to CAF-talk). All the documents referenced are available on-line.

================= faq/netnews.reading ================= q: Should my university remove (or restrict) Netnews newsgroups because some people find them offensive? If it doesn't have the resources to carry all newsgroups, how should newsgroups be selected?

================= faq/netnews.writing ================= q: Should my university allow students to post to Netnews?

================= faq/netnews.liability ================= q: Does a University reduce its likely liability by screening Netnews for offensive articles and newsgroups?

================= faq/censorship-and-harassment ================= q: Must/should universities ban material that some find offensive (from Netnews facilities, email, libraries, and student publications, etc) in order to comply with antiharassment laws?

================= faq/media.control ================= q: Since freedom of the press belongs to those who own presses, a public university can do anything it wants with the media that it owns, right?

================= faq/policy ================= q: What guidance is there for creating or evaluating a computer policy?

================= library/bill-of-rights.ala ================= The Library Bill of Rights from the American Library Association.

================= library/diversity.ala ================= "Diversity in Collection Development"

An interpretation by the American Library Association of the "Library Bill of Rights"

It says that collections should be inclusive, not exclusive. And that materials should cover the needs and interest of all patrons. "This includes materials that reflect political, economic, religious, social, minority, and sexual issues."

================= academic/speech-codes.aaup ================= On Freedom of Expression and Campus Speech Codes Expression - An official statement of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)

It says in part: "On a campus that is free and open, no idea can be banned or forbidden. No viewpoint or message may be deemed so hateful or disturbing that it may not be expressed."

================= academic/student.freedoms.aaup ================= Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students -- This is the main U.S. statement on student academic freedom.

================= law/uwm-post-v-u-of-wisconsin ================= The full text of UWM POST v. U. of Wisconsin. This recent district court ruling goes into detail about the difference between protected offensive expression and illegal harassment. It even mentions email.

It concludes: "The founding fathers of this nation produced a remarkable document in the Constitution but it was ratified only with the promise of the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment is central to our concept of freedom. The God-given "unalienable rights" that the infant nation rallied to in the Declaration of Independence can be preserved only if their application is rigorously analyzed.

The problems of bigotry and discrimination sought to be addressed here are real and truly corrosive of the educational environment. But freedom of speech is almost absolute in our land and the only restriction the fighting words doctrine can abide is that based on the fear of violent reaction. Content-based prohibitions such as that in the UW Rule, however well intended, simply cannot survive the screening which our Constitution demands."

================= =================

These document(s) are available by anonymous ftp (the preferred method) and by email. To get the file(s) via ftp, do an anonymous ftp to ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4), and get file(s):

pub/academic/caf pub/academic/banned.1991 pub/academic/statements/caf-statement pub/academic/statements/caf-statement.critique pub/academic/faq/netnews.reading pub/academic/faq/netnews.writing pub/academic/faq/netnews.liability pub/academic/faq/censorship-and-harassment pub/academic/faq/media.control pub/academic/faq/policy pub/academic/library/bill-of-rights.ala pub/academic/library/diversity.ala pub/academic/academic/speech-codes.aaup pub/academic/academic/student.freedoms.aaup pub/academic/law/uwm-post-v-u-of-wisconsin

To get the file(s) by email, send email to archive-server@eff.org. Include the line(s) (be sure to include the space before the file name):

send acad-freedom caf send acad-freedom banned.1991 send acad-freedom/statements caf-statement send acad-freedom/statements caf-statement.critique send acad-freedom/faq netnews.reading send acad-freedom/faq netnews.writing send acad-freedom/faq netnews.liability send acad-freedom/faq censorship-and-harassment send acad-freedom/faq media.control send acad-freedom/faq policy send acad-freedom/library bill-of-rights.ala send acad-freedom/library diversity.ala send acad-freedom/academic speech-codes.aaup send acad-freedom/academic student.freedoms.aaup send acad-freedom/law uwm-post-v-u-of-wisconsin