Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com
A change to the Elizabethtown College Secure Wi-Fi network at the beginning of the semester has led to some disatisfied reactions from students on the E-town Jays App.
The change in policy has had strongly varied reactions because the primary discernable difference in the new policy is that websites containing mature and explicit content — most notably pornography — are now blocked on the campus internet.
Several students on the E-town Jays App created posts in late January raising their objections to the policy change with hashtags #bringbackthehub and its abbreviated version #BBTH. This does not refer to the Digital Humanities Hub located in the Wenger Center, as some thought, but actually is in reference to video sharing and pornography website Pornhub.
One student suggested skipping class as a strike against the change, and another created a petition on change.org which recieved 90 signatures.
Other students suggested the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) or browsing on data rather than on the secure Wi-Fi.
Lastly, a student created sticker designs in reference to this policy change with a suggestive phrase, though it is unknown if the stickers were actually created.
While many students appear to be making a joke of the policy change, some pointed out their larger concerns with internet censorship and issues of transparency on the part of the administration. The example may be a laughable one, but it brings to light the distrust students have of the administration based on their choices in communication to students.
Expert Corner:
Interim Executive Director of ITS
Mr. Steven M. Rutter
The Office of Information and Technology Services (ITS) at Elizabethtown College works continuously to update the network settings to provide access to the Internet and websites in a safe and secure manner for our campus community.
Our network risk monitoring and reporting will flag high-risk traffic due to the use of applications and browser traffic that may leave our network vulnerable to attacks, carrying malware or waste bandwidth.
Our security systems communicate continuously with an industry leader that evaluates and scores sites that are risky, suspicious and identified to contain threats.
If users on our networks find that a site is blocked, it is primarily done based on the sites’ policy assessment and risk scoring. In most cases, we will work with the Senior Leadership Team to make adjustments to the network settings to reduce potential risks for the institution.
