A day or so ago, I reasoned incorrectly that university students and employees were free to encrypt mail they sent through their student or work accounts. This was in response to a statement that the govt could retain at least some control of internet traffic through the universities and businesses. I would credit the person who called me on it, by I do not remember who it was. It seems that, at least for employees, it is totally up to the employer.
Is something I have been saying for years & has nothing to do with "free speech", rather it is "property rights" and in the USA they always *must* win because when you get down to it the US is based on property rights. One of the most basic is that "citizens are not the property of the state". "We hold these truths...all men are created equal" referred to the separation of nobility from the "common man". Is part of the reason Amurricns may not be titled. However computers and networks are not people, they are property. All are owned by someone who exercises control over them. To say "you must let me use yours as I wish" is to deny "all men are created equal" (and coporations enjoy the legal fiction of being an entity. Some time in the future we may have to consider other beings (porposes ?) but not yet just as at one time slaves and "injuns" were conveniently denied. Now if an employer/university choses not to exert any control, that is their decision but does not mean they have given up anything (AFAIK "adverse possesion" has never been applied to a computer or network) so why be surprised when some exercise those rights ? I agree that proper notice should be given but that is only to stay out of court in the first place. *Every court case I know of has been decided in favour of the property owner*. Remedy exists. If you do not like the rules at one site, choose another. In most places you can find a PPP provider for $20/month unmetered who will let you do what you will. True, if you want to use the web properly, the price of a PC has gone up from $25 since Windoze and a 256 colour display is needed, but not much. Sorry for being a bit off topic but once this is understood (and am open to argument on the issue but expect to prevail), I suspect that a lot of the noise level on this list will go down. Warmly, Padgett