gazette@watserv1.waterloo.edu ( Chris Redmond - Internal Communications Office ) (11/22/90)
Following is the entire statement distributed by the provost to Monday evening's meeting of the UW senate. This statement includes all the information about the new "advisory committee on network news" that has so far been made public. ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE ASSOCIATE PROVOST, COMPUTING & INFORMATION SYSTEMS ON NETWORK NEWS BACKGROUND UW participates in a world-wide USENET which provides an electronic news service among computer users. Articles transmitted across this news network are organized in "newsgroups". Some newsgroups are clearly of value to the instructional, research, or administrative needs of the University, and some are desirable in terms of promoting the quality of life on campus. Other newsgroups can contain materials or articles which may be objectionable to some members of the University community -- a concern vis-a-vis Policy 33 on Ethical Behaviour, which states (Ref: II.B.1 and 2) that "Discrimination includes any act of communication whether oral, written, electronic or non-verbal, and which lacks any redeeming artistic, intellectual or literary merit and which promotes disrespect or intolerance for any person(s)...". The University's computing and communication resources are required to support the distribution, storage, and reading of news articles. Similar resources are required for UW users to prepare and submit news articles. In the interest of responsible use of University resources, the Committee will review the various newsgroups and their contents and make recommendations to the Associate Provost, Computing & Information Systems, with respect to the continuation of University support. Specific terms of reference and membership follow. MEMBERSHIP 3 faculty members (one of whom will Chair) 1 staff member (faculty and staff appointed by the Provost on the recommendation of Executive Council) 1 member of the University Computing Committee (chosen by and from among UCC members) 2 students (one graduate, one undergraduate) (selected by the Provost from nominees put forward by GSA and Federation of Students) 1 or more resource persons as technical advisor(s) to the Committee TERMS OF REFERENCE Initial Activity: * Present a clear statement of principles vis-a-vis responsible use of University resources to support newsgroups. * Review the contents of each newsgroup and make recommendations on whether it is appropriate for University resources to be used to distribute, store, read, prepare, and submit articles belonging to that newsgroup. The outcome of this activity will be the identification of a set of newsgroups which UW should support. On-Going Responsibilities: * Monitor the creation of new newsgroups, and make recommendations on whether it is appropriate for University resources to be devoted to their support. * Investigate complaints which arise from members of the University community about contents of supported newsgroups, and make recommendations with respect to the continuation of University support. The Committee will recommend to the Associate Provost, Computing & Information Systems, who will be responsible for implementing recommendations or for indicating why he/she is unable to do so.
gazette@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca (Chris Redmond) (06/18/91)
The final report of the Advisory Committee on Network News was made public today (Monday) by the associate provost (computing and information systems). He says in a covering memo: "I would like to hear from the University community before taking action. Comments and/or concerns should be expressed to me in writing by August 15, 1991." Among the committee's recommendations are these: -- "The University of Waterloo adopt and widely publicize the principle that, in sending E-mail or in posting an article to a newsgroup, it is the user and not the University who assumes responsibility for its contents." -- "The University's primary news-server continue to receive all newsgroups generated internally and all newsgroups which arrive over the networks to which the University is connected. The contents of these newsgroups continue to be made available to all lower-level servers." -- A person at UW be appointed to help users here find "a suitable authority at a remote site to whom a request for action might be addressed" if objectionable material from elsewhere is received here, and to help users elsewhere find the right authority at UW complain to if objectionable material originates here. -- Complaints within UW about objectionable postings be handled through the usual procedures, such as grievances under the ethics policy. I regret that this document just hit my desk this afternoon, too late to be reflected in this week's Gazette. It will be reported in full next week, by which time I hope I will be able to get comment from appropriate officials on exactly what it means. I am trying to obtain the full document in machine-readable form. If I manage to do so and can make it available electronically, an announcement about its location will be posted here.