By Chris Falcone

Contrary to popular belief, the security warning that appears when signing on to any computer throughout the University’s campus has been around for quite some time.

“It has been there for many years,” Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel Dolores Fredrich said. “Recently, however, the text was actually revised and that took place as early as last semester.

The warning, issued in a gray dialogue box, appears after users log on the computer using their University identification card.

“The gray pop-up box itself is something new,” Assistant Vice President for University Relations Melissa A. Connolly said. “Prior to that, the security notice was simply stated in a background text.”

The security warning is there to try and clarify for students the rules of disclosure, as required by law, when using computers that are part of the University’s network. The purpose is to educate the users on this law, as best as possible, and make them aware of the general principles regarding it, said Fredrich.

Federal statutes enforce these notices, that state computers can be monitored and, furthermore, certain computer use can be subject to subpoena..

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) are all federal privacy statutes pertaining to records that enforce such laws, Fredrich said.

She said the main reasoning behind such notifications is two-fold: computer activity can be seen by others and also it references copyright laws.

Specifically there are three instances when this authorization, comes into play. Disclosure of information is warranted when a student comes back to the university in order to obtain documents pertaining to his or her school records. When the school is issued a subpoena, in a civil lawsuit, they, have no choice but to abide by such a ruling.

“There are numerous subpoenas that come in involving students and employees on a frequent basis,” Fredrich said.

The final instance is for the detection of copyright violations.

This occurs when the school receives notices from holders of copyrighted material, stating that illegal activity has occurred on a particular computer. These companies, mainly pertaining to the music and movie industry, are then able to trace the activity of these illegal users.

In doing so, Fredrich stresses that the University is not the one scanning these computers; rather the monitoring comes from outside agencies.

This common issue of file sharing and copyright downloading is something that affects all campuses across the country, Fredrich said.

“Sometimes I get confused on what is legal and what isn’t,” senior Ilyssa Rosenblum said. “However, I am a senior therefore, I’m sure the school is more concerned with the incoming students not the ones leaving.”

Fredrich stressed the importance of educating students on this issue.

“What we need to do now is have people become more aware of the situation,” said Fredrich. “We need to educate students so that it doesn’t happen and this is being done as early as freshman orientation where members of campus life come and speak to the students.”

Fredrich said no one has ever come in to the University and prosecuted in any of the copyright cases and no lawsuits have involved students in that regard.

Fredrich thinks the gray dialogue box is a sufficient way to present the facts on privacy to the computer users.

“It is enough to alert people to the general rules. It is considered the short and sweet version,” she said. “Do you think anymore people would read it if we gave them the full ten pages?”

Senior Hope Maggio felt, however, the school should do a better job making students aware of this information.

“They should realize that no one pays attention to those pop-ups,” Maggio said. “Why wouldn’t they send it as a mass email or something that would definitely draw more attention.”

Friedrich also said that the policy on computer usage could be found on the University Web site.

Students in computer labs get a message when they log onto the computers.