“…It’s just another day at work for the folks at the university’s Project NEThics program, which handles crimes and near-crimes, human errors, dramas, and assorted foibles on an increasingly Internet-connected campus. When the NEThics office gets a tip that a computer-savvy student has been doing something he or she shouldn’t — like hacking into a company’s computer system, or downloading MP3s illegally, or using computer-lab machines to look at pornography — the staff steps in to deliver stern warnings or, in the worst cases, contacts the police. When students get an online threat, discover that their computers have been hacked, find that they have unwelcome online admirers, or have a problem with another computer user, the NEThics staff is there to offer advice and guidance. It’s Miss Manners meets Sam Spade — but in front of a computer monitor.
“Over the past few years, offices like the one at College Park have been established at a handful of colleges, generally larger institutions, such as Northeastern University and the State University of New York at Buffalo. Although the so-called computer-discipline offices vary in name, procedures, and number of employees, their missions are similar. They provide a central office through which the institution can dispense clear and consistent information about computer-use policies on campus. Perhaps more importantly, they provide students and others with empathetic contacts within the institutions’ technology offices — people better trained to deal with human issues than technical ones…”
Click here to read the full article from The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Information Technology dept.
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