E-privacy grabs UA center stage

Kicking off the first meeting of its new term, the Undergraduate Assembly met last night to establish a stance on Penn's proposed electronic privacy policy. University Council informally proposed an Electronic Privacy Policy earlier this month. Currently, there is no policy in place to determine such things as when administrators can read students' or employees' Penn e-mail accounts without permission. The proposal, which has been debated throughout the year, is up for public comment until June 1. Electronic privacy took up more than half of the night's agenda, with Penn American Civil Liberties Union Chairman Yoni Rosenzweig informing the body about the ACLU's problems with the policy. Rosenzweig emphasized that the ACLU had two major complaints regarding the proposal. First, they disagree with the rules concerning which administrators would have access to student e-mail, saying that the Office of Student Conduct should not have those privileges. The policy would allow the deans of a student's school, the OSC and the Office of Audit and Compliance to access the content of students' messages in consultation with the Office of the General Counsel. Secondly, he said the wording on the conditions for searching e-mail was too broad and allowed too much access. The proposed policy as it stands gives the University the liberty to check students' e-mail if they feel that it is out of a "good faith effort," which Rosenzweig said lacked objectivity. He proposed that this terminology be changed to "probable cause," which would mean that there was legitimate and sound reason for invasion. After Rosenzweig's comments and a discussion among the body, the UA decided to release a statement today expressing their dissatisfaction with "the way in which the policy was created and the way in which e-mail messages can be accessed by the administration," UA Chairman and College junior Michael Bassik said. Along with its prepared statement, the UA will also propose several amendments to the policy that are similar to those demanded by the ACLU. The amendments ask that Penn maintain a proper log of searches and that the OSC not be included in the organizations that have access to e-mail. They also say that instead of the OSC, the Information Systems and Computing office should be allowed to monitor e-mail in order to "maintain the integrity of the network." Finally the body asks that the University require a "probable cause" instead of a "good faith effort" to search correspondence.

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