Network policies hurt learning, crush rights
By Daily Bruin Staff
Oct. 19, 1998 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, October 20, 1998
Network policies hurt learning, crush rights
COMPUTERS: Dorms discriminate against non-Windows users
By Dan Helfman
As I’m sure just about anyone in the UCLA dorms can tell you
that students often share files between their networked computers.
They do so in Microsoft Windows via the "Network Neighborhood. "
The trouble is that I run Linux, a little-known alternative to
Windows. It has the ability to do filesharing differently. My
problems started when the people running the dorm network decided
that only students doing things the Windows way should be freely
allowed to run their filesharing services. This selective
enforcement is mentioned nowhere in the student housing contract,
and I cannot find it in any written policy.
Last week, they shut down my network connection with no warning,
leaving a note saying that I should disable all services. They told
me that I had to pay a fee and give them my computer’s password,
thereby granting them complete access to all the files on my
computer, all because I wanted to run a computer with Linux
services. They have since changed their mind about the password,
but still insist on charging Linux-using students for the ability
to run servers, while Windows filesharing servers have no such
restriction.
Such blatant discrimination scares me, especially coming from an
otherwise great school such as UCLA. I use Linux to augment my
education in computer science and learn all about running a true
server. One would think that a school which claims to be "the
birthplace of the internet " might be a little more open-minded
about different ways of computing.
Even Windows users should be concerned about how UCLA is
restricting students’ rights and pulling policies out of thin air.
If they successfully trample the handful of non-Windows users,
who’s next?
I suggest that high school students interested in computer
science carefully examine UCLA’s network policy before even filling
out an application. There are dozens of other schools with fair
network policies that would be happy to admit a student ambitious
and intelligent enough to learn about computers outside of the
classroom.
If I could do it all over again with full knowledge of UCLA’s
discriminatory rules, I would have definitely chosen a different
university.
Comments, feedback, problems?
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