Lori Driscoll
Associate University Librarian and Chair of Access Services
University of Florida

Peter Murray
Assistant to the Director for Technology Initiatives
University of Connecticut

Gordon Wishon
CIO, Assoc. Vice President & Assoc. Provost
University of Notre Dame

Efforts to secure computers and networks and the development of corresponding policies and procedures that appropriately protect user privacy present difficult challenges for libraries and institutions of higher education. These policies are of increasing importance due to security concerns, legislation such as the USA PATRIOT Act, and the changing licensing requirements of software and database vendors.

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) recently published two reports examining patron privacy and authentication of public workstations. The study on patron privacy revealed a wide variety of retention guidelines and few specific privacy policies. Librarians in general were unaware of which records their institution retained and for what length of time and did not fully understand the technological issues related to purging data from computers. The second study showed that there is little consensus on how to handle authentication of public access workstations. Some libraries have policies independent of their institutions’ IT security policies, while others defer to their institutions’ policies. The same issues confound efforts to secure workstations in computer labs, classroom PCs, public kiosks, hardware that is loaned or shared among multiple users, and wireless network access.

This briefing will explore the ARL reports and related campus challenges in light of the “Principles to Guide Efforts to Improve Computer and Network Security for Higher Education” developed by the EDUCAUSE/Internet2 Computer and Network Security Task Force in 2002.

Web Links:
http://www.arl.org/spec/SPEC278WebBook.pdf
http://www.arl.org/spec/SPEC277WebBook.pdf
http://www.educause.edu/security

Handout:
Security and Privacy: Workstation Authentication and Records Retention (DOC)

Presentation:
Security and Privacy: Workstation Authentication and Records Retention (PDF)

Michael R. Nelson
Director, Internet Technology and Strategy
IBM Vice President, The Internet Society

James X. Dempsey
Executive Director
Center for Democracy and Technology

In many countries, the Internet is becoming a mass media. As a result, it is providing access to information that some governments would rather their citizens not see or hear. Furthermore, new services such as Voice over IP and video streaming are threatening the profits of well-established (and powerful) telephone and broadcasting companies. As a result, more and more governments are feeling compelled to regulate or constrain services provided over the Internet. Last December, the United Nations convened the first World Summit on the Information Society where many speakers called for better “Internet governance” and more government control over the management and evolution of the Internet. The Internet Society is helping policy makers around the world understand how the Internet works and how the genius of the Internet is its decentralized, flexible structure. This session will give an overview of critical Internet policy issues and provide a chance for audience members to discuss how best to address them.

Web Link:
http://www.isoc.org
http://www.inet2004.org

Handout:
The Internet Society’s Public Policy Agenda

Presentation:
Update on Internet Society Public Policy Activities (PPT)