Hi, everyone. Long time, no post.
Last night, one of my favorite tech writers, Nathan Havlerson of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, published the article SRJC threatens to sue students, faculty over private e-mail accounts. On the surface, it sounds like a slam-dunk case of big-government run amok. “Sue anyone who uses ’srjc’ in their email address? Preposterous! Water-cooler-bureaucrats thinking they can control the internet! What a waste of my tax-payer’s dollars! It’s Monster Cable all over again!” Etc.
Unfortunately the truth isn’t nealy as exciting.
First off, the college has had, and continues to have, isolated incidents of people trying to use the campus identity for their own personal needs, be it political, commercial, or otherwise. Yes, it’s easy to make fun of people who don’t understand how email addresses work (”srjc@whatever.com isn’t from the school? I don’t get it. And yes, I’ll email you my bank login and password …”), but the reality is that there are still people who just don’t get the difference.
So, if it’s your company that this is happening to, what do you do? I’d hope you’d first try to be reasonable and try to get the offending party to stop doing it, which in fact it what the college tried to do. After all, legal is messy, legal is expensive, and 99% of the time it’s just a misunderstanding that’s easily corrected. But what if even that doesn’t work?
Well, before taking someone to court, how about trying a Cease and Desist letter? It doesn’t mean that you’re going to sue someone, but it does show that you’re serious about an infraction. Great idea, right?
One big problem, though (besides it getting posted to Slashdot and getting blown out of proportion) - you can’t just arbitrarily single someone out. If you’re going to try to enforce some code to get someone to stop doing what they’re doing, it has to apply equally to everyone. In for a penny, in for a pound …
That’s what happened here. About a hundred or so people (not several hundred as the article states - I know, I helped compile the list) received a letter asking them to stop using “SRJC” in their email address. There was no favortism in this letter - I received one as well.
Yeah, it stinks. Yeah, I get how people can get upset about this. But is it really worth the vitrol that’s being hurled at us? It is worth having someone fired over (yes, that’s being suggested)? I don’t think any reasonable person would think that, if they knew all of the facts.
Sorry for the rant, but it just burns me when someone misrepresents my college like this. The thought that the campus is wasting money during this economic crisis is preposterous and insulting. Here’s the reality - despite having our budget cut 10%, we’re handling an increase in enrollment of 7-10%, and handling it brilliantly. Dozens of people have been working extra hours (not getting paid for, incidentally) to keep our campus running smoothly.
Nathan, if you’d like, I’d be more than happy to show you the ways we’re saving tens of thousands of tax payer’s dollars. I’m sure other businesses could benefit from our experiences.
Oh, and since no one else has posted it, here’s the actual letter. Decide for yourself:
PS: If you’re not familiar with the term “Gastineau’s Rules,” check this article out. Basically, it refers to stupid, idiotic rules that have to be created just because someone want’s to be a jerk.
