they are watching me

[mnchur]

well...my suspicions were right. i am now being summoned to a Judical confrence due to my hooking into the school lab network and you guys will love these charges. In their own words....

1) social conduct #4- Actions which damage ror tend to damage public property or property not ones owns

2) social conduct #5- Appropriating for ones own use public or private property without the consent of the owner or the person legally responsible for that property

is it just me or are they accuseing me of stealing? all i did was pull an ethernet cord out of the back of one their computers which i was logged onto and plugged it into my laptop so i could veiw source on a website and tranfer some files to my network drive....

[rapier57]

I'm just guessing, since most of this is very depended on your state laws, and I don't want to cause you undue anxiety. But it sounds like they see the way you used the school network as "theft of services." I advise you to carefully read the code of conduct and AUP for your institution right away and get some advice on your status and rights in this.

all i did was pull an ethernet cord out of the back of one their computers which i was logged onto and plugged it into my laptop so i could veiw source on a website and tranfer some files to my network drive....

That was the "appropriating for ones own use" part. You must have really p***ed someone off.

How serious this is is highly dependent on whether you are in k-12 or in higher ed. In k-12 you are still a juvenile, so you have some protections.

In higher ed you are an adult, and it is very much more serious. If you are covered under a code of conduct and/or AUP, you are responsible for knowing the contents of those documents and at some point signed something indicating you read and understood them.

[mnchur]

the theft of service doesn't make sense though...i am and have unlimited acess to thier internet in thier labs. So how can they claim a theft of service on one comp as opposed to the other? theft inplies that i was not . given the right to use their internet any system wich is not the case. oh well i have talked to several other students and have learned that i will most likely have to do a few hours of community service for the school for the "Infraction" so i am not really worried....

[introgrammer]

the world of the net can be seen by all you just have to look hard dont worry over it just try jap works fine and if you still have mind games played on your self get some one elses computer and use it lmao then instead of them knowing what kinda porn you like lmao thay will know theres hahaha

[nihil]

Your basic defence is:

1. No case to answer . You can build a computer, so you might just be able to handle a network connection cable? If you cannot, you should not even be in the room? You do know how to work an electric light switch?

2. No case to answer . You have network access...............provided you are using the connection for legitimate purposes, the device that you use is irrelevant IN THIS RESPECT.

OK, your real offence is that YOU connected an unauthorised device to THEIR network. That is what is P*****g them off. You have effectively negated any security that they have, as your laptop could be infested with every bit of malware in the world, and most of the recent stuff is network aware. It was not a clever thing to do.

If there is NOT a specific rule against this, then your administrators make half @$$ed look good! From what you are being charged with, this would seem to be the case?

Do your lab machines have CD writers......if they do, then that is the way you should have gone. If not, ask the Admins for access to one.

They are also afraid that you may copy software that they have licenced and are responsible for?

If I had done it, I would have copied to the local HDD, then into my laptop via a null modem cable. THAT WOULD BE A DISMISSABLE OFFENCE as well!.......another security compromise.

You should NOT have done what you did, because you compromised security. However, their rules need looking at, so the charges, as they stand, are spurious.

Good Luck

[Nightfalls_Girl]

you say
"im not doing anything wrong....but it does bother me that they feel they have the right to look over my shoulder anytime i am on the net"

as long as you are using there machines on there network using there s/w using there internet ect
thay have got every right to do so.
tho you may consider it to be in invasion of privacy (in whitch most of us do) as long as your not doing any thing illegial or anythink that would infringe on breaking any signed contract than you have nothing to worry about.
If you do consider it to be an invasion overload than try speking to the people incharge about it, and how you feel that thay are jepodising your privacy.

Just a thought.



Nightfalls_Girl

[disc0rd]

We often have this problem at work with people wondering why we watch over people's shoulders sometimes. Especially in the case where we have network bandwidth problems, we pay special attention to certain people due to the fact that they like to stream music and do other things that they're not supposed to.

Even though they think its an invasion of privacy, we net admins have a tendancy to do those sorts of things, especially when you get the "THE NETWORK IS SO SLOW!!" calls on the phone. So as a result we have to watch certain people that are known for doing things like that. When you're talking about 1000 computers using different applications at one time to do important processes, and you have 10 of those computers streaming music, we like to "ice" those people.

I guess you have to look at it from a net admin point of view...although I can see your point, I'm just trying to shed some light on how a net admin thinks in a work environment

[nihil]

disc0rd, welcome to AO,

I think that you make some good points...sharing bandwidth and such. A network is a SHARED resource, so anarchists are not very welcome? Yes...you do need to "police" it.

I also think that Nightfall's Girl made some very relevant remarks regarding personal freedoms.

What struck me as being strange were the actual "charges". Manchur connected an unauthorised device.............it seems that there is no authorisation rule/process, or this would have been the first thing they would have gone for..........by his own admission he did it?...but that is not what they are complaining about?

This must be very embarassing for someone? The "rules" seem to be flawed/outdated, and this is some sort of knee jerk reaction to hide the fact?

Manchur....you WERE WRONG...........but SO ARE THEY, and two wrongs never made a right in my math.


Just my £0.02 worth

Cheers

[mnchur]

unfourtuantely this whole thread may be null and void by the end of this weekend. i heard today from a good source that they are concidering expleling me for this =( im not sure what will happen if i get expelled form school.....most likely i will have to quit school altogether as i dont have enough money to go to school without my scholarships which i will inevitably lose if in fact i am expelled......

[fraggin]

Sounds like you should have been a bit stealthier.