[git.general] Georgia Tech's Restriction on Internet Access

richd@prism.gatech.EDU (Richard Dellaripa) (03/10/91)

gt6004a@prism.gatech.EDU (Michael Goldsman) writes:

[quoting from a memo from the Office of Information Technology]

>...  Any member of the faculty or staff, with authority to 
>access remote resources across the Internet, would be granted an account 
>on the Trusted Host.  Postdocs, Graduate Research Assistants, and 
>Undergraduate students with a valid requirement to access remote 
>resources would receive sponsorship from the appropriate faculty/staff 
>member and be granted an account on the trusted host.  

I would like to point out that this set of conditions is almost
identical to those Georgia Tech used to issue computer accounts before
they started issuing accounts to all students, faculty and staff. (I'll
also point out that all students got accounts a couple years before all
faculty/staff received accounts). As I recall, in general, the
restrictions were considered only a bother, as all it usually took was
a friendly professor and/or some interesting project to gain an
account. I have seen no indication that gaining an account on the
trusted host would be much more difficult than that. If one is doing
something reasonable that requires Internet access, then implications
are that Internet access will be given. Most complaints about this
policy announcement seem to merely complain that people can't use up
precious bandwidth on whatever strikes their fancy at the moment, or a
fear that people who truly need Internet access will be denied it. The
first SHOULD be stopped, and the second will not, IMHO, be a problem.


                   Richard C. Dellaripa -- GTRI/EOL
     "The opinions contained within are solely those of the author"
        Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, 30332
         Internet: richd@prism.gatech.edu Phone: (404) 894-3357