Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer. Harvey is. (And a pretty damn good one, too.) -Declan ---------- Forwarded message begins here ---------- Date: Sun, 17 Dec 1995 14:38:24 +0001 (EST) From: Harvey A Silverglate <has@world.std.com> Subject: Re: Is ths legal?... To: "Declan B. McCullagh" <declan+@CMU.EDU> In-Reply-To: <wkoy1Sq00YUvMl2sVN@andrew.cmu.edu> Message-Id: <Pine.3.89.9512171444.F10678-0100000@world.std.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Declan - The answer to the "is this legal?" question is more complex than simply "private versus public" university. There are fairly strict federal anti-wiretapping laws. It is hardly clear that a private university may eavesdrop on students' phone or computer conversations, even if conducted over the university's network. Furthermore, many states have their own anti-wiretap and anti-eavesdrop laws, which are even stricter than federal standards. I don't have the time nor the inclination to do research into Oklahoma law, but we did some research into this area of state and federal law for the LaMacchia case and concluded that in its investigation of David LaMacchia, MIT very well might have violated federal laws. Harvey Silverglate