Clemson University, home of the stupidest censors in the United States.
Read this carefully...
University bans students from website
Internet sites providing free long distance service were blocked by DCIT.
NOT TODAY: Dialpad.com's website is no longer accessible from campus computers .
MIKE BOWEN/ ADVERTISING PRODUCTION MANAGER
Rob Barnett
MANAGING EDITOR Web Posted on January 28, 2000
Last Friday was the last day that students and faculty could reach the Internet site www.dialpad.com from on-campus computers. Under the direction of Chris Duckenfield, the vice provost for computing and information technology, which oversees DCIT and the Telecommunications Department, the University blocked access to this web site.
Dialpad.com, a fairly recent addition to the Internet, offers people free long distance through their Internet connection. Users can take advantage of the site by calling anywhere in the United States for free. The only catch is that while making a phone call, advertisements are displayed on the user's screen.
Dialpad.com is the first Internet content provider that the University has specifically blocked or censored. The University tried to keep the decision as discreet as possible. In an e-mail sent to DCIT Help Desk employees by Susan Davidson, it was stated, “The less said, the better,” in regards to why dialpad.com was not accessible.
This same e-mail stated that the University was blocking dialpad.com until DCIT could assess financial, legal and network problems that might arise as thesite's popularity increased. It was also emphasized in the e-mail that “the Internet connection exists for academic use.”
Hok Yeung, a business development manager for dialpad.com, was quick to point out that dialpad.com could be used for educational purposes. Yeung stated,
“Dialpad.com can have legitimate academic use. It easily falls within the context of a university setting. For instance, a professor could use the site to call a colleague at another university.”
Yeung also added, “I do not want to impose on the university, but censorship is very serious.”
Duckenfield responded to claims of censorship by using a different nomenclature. “It was temporarily blocked until the impact of its use could be more completely studied,” said Duckenfield.
“If we were going to censor, we would have done it a long time ago. There are a lot of people out there that would like to see certain kinds of information censored,”
Duckenfield stated. “This was never intended to be a draconian reaction to something we didn't like. In this case, it is not information we are censoring. It is a service we are blocking.”
Joseph Boyken, dean of the university libraries, added to the censorship debate. “I'm not opposed to blocking sites that could potentially put the University in legal trouble,” said Boyken. He also emphasized the potential dangers of censoring information. “Yyou either get it [information] all, or you cut out a lot of it,” Boyken stated.
Duckenfield reiterated that students did not have to fear censorship at the hands of DCIT. According to Duckenfield, there are not plans to block any other types of services or information. He added, however, that the University would continue to block dialpad.com and other similar sites for the time being.
At first, dialpad.com was singled out, but the University has since made efforts to block other sites that offer the same type of service. A competitor of dialpad.com, www.funphone.com, was later added to the list of blocked sites.
A committee of students and faculty is being organized to determine the long-term status of these types of Internet services. Student reaction, especially among avid Internet users, has been fairly critical. Student posts on the clem.hubcap newsgroup have been outspoken against the new policy.
Student posts on the Internet spoke openly of conspiracy theories related to why dialpad.com was blocked. Most theories alluded that Clemson was trying to secure a monopoly over the campus long distance service by blocking dialpad.com.
Duckenfield responded that these proposed conspiracies were completely unfounded. He claimed responsibility for the decision, and said he was not influenced by any outside sources.
Duckenfield stated several reasons for making the decision to block dialpad.com. Firstly, he wanted to determine dialpad.com's “impact on our Internet bandwidth.” He admitted, however, that the impact would most likely be negligible.
The finances of Clemson Telecommunications were also considered by Duckenfield.
“The University might see a significant drop in its telephone revenues,” stated Duckenfield. According to Duckenfield, Telecommunications pays for the campus locator service, the University switchboard, and the emergency telephone system, so its financial situation had to be taken into account.
Despite standing behind his decision, even Duckenfield had mixed feelings on the issue. “We'd love for it to be free too, so we have no ulterior motive in blocking dialpad.com or similar sites,” said Duckenfield.
The permanence of the decision to block Internet sites offering free long distance will be determined in the coming weeks. “This is not a permanent and final decision, but it seemed to be the prudent thing to do right now to protect the University and the academic community's access to good Internet service,” stated Duckenfield.
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