When I return to work, it may be to a shitstorm

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by Amblyopic

Tough gig Pappa.

I don't get "academic freedom" --- do y'all at least have user agreements or acceptable use policies?

No user agreements. We're careful about licensing though. Rather than 'acceptable use policies' we have 'best practices.' As I said, we can't mandate anything. We can, however, state what we will NOT do.

http://www.caut.ca/pages.asp?page=140

Sometimes it can lead to some rather extreme things.

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.c...=M1ARTM0010533

*EDIT* I've got to say, though, that despite all of this it's the best and most challenging job I've ever had. I'm also adequately compensated for what I deal with. It's a frustrating job, at times, but it's a good job, in a good working environment. In fact I'd call it my ideal job.

[Lamnidae]

.... yeahhhhhh. So I fail to see how "academic freedom" would apply to use of state funded equipment/facilities other than having a medium available to communicate (which you provide). It sounds like it's just an easy excuse to get away with anything. I'm curious as what's the difference between say a primary school technology department and the secondary school --- someone is still responsible / owns the equipment.....

I would need a good CYA or get outta jail free card if I worked there -- but then again a good portion of my career has been spent where actions (or inactions) on my part can be punitive. *shrugs*

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by Amblyopic

.... yeahhhhhh. So I fail to see how "academic freedom" would apply to use of state funded equipment/facilities other than having a medium available to communicate (which you provide). It sounds like it's just an easy excuse to get away with anything. I'm curious as what's the difference between say a primary school technology department and the secondary school --- someone is still responsible / owns the equipment.....

I would need a good CYA or get outta jail free card if I worked there -- but then again a good portion of my career has been spent where actions (or inactions) on my part can be punitive. *shrugs*

Partially (ie. largely) State funded, but not purely so. We're nominally independent organizations, that must adhere to a set of standards.

Higher education simply isn't treated like primary/secondary school. Academic Freedom must apply to all aspects, or it effectively applies to none. That doesn't mean we must condone or support illegal activity though. It can certainly be abused but that's a gross exception, rather than a rule.

My CYA is twofold: When I'm working on a user's computer < Schultz > "I see nothing, NOTHING" < / Schultz > , unless I see something that is patently illegal. You don't, for example, ignore kiddie porn. They can call it 'research' all they want, but that shit ain't gonna fly.

[Lamnidae]

simply from an overall management and information assurance prospective, wow, what a tough job.


We have some pretty strict legal guidelines we have to follow on how we perform actions/work (and have to be basically re-accredited through training each year) or when an inadvertent discovery (porn, etc) through work happens. IE - we don't search unless we're directed to by an investigative authority.

So is it one entity that actually owns the equipment or connection? I get "academic freedom" --- and that's fine, you're free to research / distribute however you want, but that doesn't mean they should have the power to dictate how your enterprise runs. It's like having a toddler and letting him decide what he wants to eat. Gotta have a little parental guidance (and be able to have the ability to keep the kid in line rather than just empty words).

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by Amblyopic

simply from an overall management and information assurance prospective, wow, what a tough job.

We have some pretty strict legal guidelines we have to follow on how we perform actions/work (and have to be basically re-accredited through training each year) or when an inadvertent discovery (porn, etc) through work happens. IE - we don't search unless we're directed to by an investigative authority.

So is it one entity that actually owns the equipment or connection? I get "academic freedom" --- and that's fine, you're free to research / distribute however you want, but that doesn't mean they should have the power to dictate how your enterprise runs. It's like having a toddler and letting him decide what he wants to eat. Gotta have a little parental guidance (and be able to have the ability to keep the kid in line rather than just empty words).

They don't dictate how we operate, but neither can we dictate how they do (within reason).

We have a list of recommended hardware. They can buy anything they want to but if it isn't on the list, we won't touch a hardware failure. We will help them with (supported) software issues, though, on unsupported hardware. The advantage of buying off from the supported list is that we're an authorized service centre, for the vast majority of it. Say a user's computer has a hard drive failure. We can have a replacement in-house within 24-48 hours and have it back up and running again, quite frequently with no loss of data. If they use unsupported equipment, then they lose that.

Within the first two months of my employment I was tasked with collecting all of the computers within a small department, so they could be examined. From time to time I'm still sent out for similar tasks, bringing the systems back for our Network Security division. That's pretty rare though.

I don't go looking for stuff, but I also can't turn a blind eye to it. Admittedly, up until this point I've not been in a position that I had to report anything. There are times when I've had to take action, but nothing that ultimately involved law enforcement.

You'll note that I'm speaking in very general terms, because I'm not permitted to discuss specifics, sometimes even within my own department

[Homeslice]

Ha ha.

Some companies with crap IT departments, like mine, still have people on IE6 because they're too fucking lazy to make their company intranet sites compatible with modern browers. Fuck em. I hope this causes them massive headaches.

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

Ha ha.

Some companies with crap IT departments, like mine, still have people on IE6 because they're too fucking lazy to make their company intranet sites compatible with modern browers. Fuck em. I hope this causes them massive headaches.

It won't be an issue for most corporate intranets, that don't use any enhanced functionality. Where it becomes an issue is if you get into using gateway pages, Sharepoint or other secure file sharing setups, and various Oracle products.

[Lamnidae]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

Where it becomes an issue is if you get into using gateway pages, Sharepoint or other secure file sharing setups, and various Oracle products.

x2.

[Lamnidae]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

They don't dictate how we operate, but neither can we dictate how they do (within reason).

We have a list of recommended hardware. They can buy anything they want to but if it isn't on the list, we won't touch a hardware failure. We will help them with (supported) software issues, though, on unsupported hardware. The advantage of buying off from the supported list is that we're an authorized service centre, for the vast majority of it. Say a user's computer has a hard drive failure. We can have a replacement in-house within 24-48 hours and have it back up and running again, quite frequently with no loss of data. If they use unsupported equipment, then they lose that.

Within the first two months of my employment I was tasked with collecting all of the computers within a small department, so they could be examined. From time to time I'm still sent out for similar tasks, bringing the systems back for our Network Security division. That's pretty rare though.

I don't go looking for stuff, but I also can't turn a blind eye to it. Admittedly, up until this point I've not been in a position that I had to report anything. There are times when I've had to take action, but nothing that ultimately involved law enforcement.

You'll note that I'm speaking in very general terms, because I'm not permitted to discuss specifics, sometimes even within my own department

Dig it.

So the hardware is the staff's personal property or you provide guidance to the departments on what they should buy, then they use their funding to buy what they want?

[Lamnidae]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

Ha ha.

Some companies with crap IT departments, like mine, still have people on IE6 because they're too fucking lazy to make their company intranet sites compatible with modern browers. Fuck em. I hope this causes them massive headaches.

IT is only as good as it's backing. No support (or initiative) from C-level staff, can lead to failure.