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The
general consensus around campus is that internet security is not
a real problem at Notre Dame. When we talked to the Notre Dame Security
office they said things like Internet stalkers were the latest threat
to personal security over the Internet they have dealt with. They
also said toward national security that Notre Dame and the surrounding
area are not in any way in danger because of the War on Terrorism,
and that the same applies over the Internet. The student population
for the most part does not feel insecure when on the Internet. A
few mentioned the eyes of Notre Dame on them made them feel uncomfortable.
So over all Internet security is not the most relevant topic at
Notre Dame.
Mr.
Reimer is the father of three Notre Dame students. He works for
the Environmental Protection Agency and wrote this response in
regards to our survey he took.
I filled out your survey per Faith's request; I found the two
real questions a bit inconclusive. I mean, if there is no effect
to a government law, the courts tend to disregard them anyway,
and 'filtering the internet,' even for national security is a
nearly bogus proposition. I can upload info and download info
with free web sites in any number of foreign countries. Only by
intercepting stuff at the figurative border could the govt. keep
me from receiving stuff from overseas, and there is no why they
can examine and correctly evaluate everything I might send away.
For a trivial example, note the websites that store prohibited
(commercial) mp3's by simply changing their file extension, then
telling you in the website text to change the extension back to
mp3. Since the govt could not connect by browsing of that instruction
page with my subsequent downloading of a '.jpg' file (which might
actually be a big .zip of scanned secrets, or just the latest
subversive music), then they can't actually stop me -- unless
they simply cut off all cross-border internet work. And even then,
I'd have a hundred alternate ways to still work within this country.
Sure, they have a legit interest in protecting national security,
but they don't have the means to control the internet. The best
they can do is punish the ones they catch, and they already have
laws on the books to do that.
Robert Reimer
Notre Dame Parent |
