Informed and Discerning:Porn on the Harvard

Dean’s PC

Kevin W. BowyerComputer Science and

EngineeringUniversity of South Florida

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A Good Case Study Because

• Real facts, conclusions, opinions• Relevant issues, with general

principles• Illustrates the importance of being “Informed and Discerning.”

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A Quick First Take

• Tech discovers porn on PC in dean’s home

• Tech reports porn to administration.

• Dean resigns dean-ship, but keeps tenure.

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QUESTION:

Should tech have kept discovery confidential?

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Informed - About the Dean

• Married, two grown daughters• Ordained Evangelical Lutheran

minister• Dean of Divinity for 13 years• Established Center for Study of

Values In Public Life, strong fund-raising record.

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Informed - How It Started

• Dean requests larger disk, transfer of files

• Tech discovers porn in course of the work:

Image on-screen? Or tech opened files?• “Thousands of images.”• Porn was not of a type considered illegal (i.e., not child pornography).

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Informed - “Harvard-ness”

• PC is Harvard property.• PC is located in home office.• Home is Harvard property.• Tech is also a Harvard employee.

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Informed - Harvard Policies

• No “inappropriate, obscene, bigoted or abusive” material allowed on computers.

• Computer use “related to School’s mission of education, research and public service.”

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Informed - Legalities

• Employee does not have legal right to privacy on the company computer.

• AMA survey: 27% of US companies review employee email, most on random basis.

• 21% of companies review stored files.

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Informed - Legalities

“In this day and age, I would say that an employee is foolish or naïve who allows information to be stored in his or her computer that he or she does not want the employer to be aware of.”

Craig Cornish,co-chair of ABA privacy committee

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Informed Second Look

• Harvard employee discovers, in the course of his job, Harvard equipment being used against Harvard policy.

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QUESTION:

Should tech have kept discovery confidential?

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Discerning

Dean has responsibilities to• employer / the administration• colleagues, students, alumni• family• society• God / Synod of ELC

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Discerning

Tech has responsibilities to• employer / the administration• colleagues, students, alumni• family• society

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Informed & Discerning Look

• Tech had some level of responsibility to keep info seen on dean’s PC confidential.

• Tech had a responsibility to report violation of computer use policy.

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?

Tech correctly followed path of greater responsibility.

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Informed - ELC Policies

• ELC has policy against pornography.

• ELC Bishop to meet with the dean; punishment could range from admonition to dismissal from roster of pastors.

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Informed & Discerning Look

• Harvard President Rudenstine met with a Dean who violated Harvard policies.

• Violation could call dean’s professional standing into question.

• Publicity could embarrass dean/Harvard.

Rudenstine worked out reasonable conclusion.

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Hypothetical #1

What if• Dean owned his own pc, and• Dean hired his own tech?

Should Tech keep discovery confidential?

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Hypothetical #2

What if• Tech discovered the dean had been

keeping a large archive of non-offensive images (i.e., family photos, bird photos, ...)?

Should Tech keep discovery confidential?

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Hypothetical #3

What if• Tech discovered potentially

embarrassing medical information (HIV+, …)?

Should Tech keep discovery confidential?

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Hypothetical #4

What if• Tech discovered financial

irregularities?

Should Tech keep discovery confidential?

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Hypothetical #5

What if• It was the dean of a law school,• Dean is nominated to Supreme Court,• Tech discovers records of anonymous

pro bono legal work for the KKK?

Should tech keep discovery confidential?

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Viewpoint - “No big deal”

One female student quoted as saying it was “like getting caught with Playboys under the mattress.”

How accurate is this analogy?

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Viewpoint - “Porno-apologist”

Randall Kennedy, www.intellectualcapital.com

“... nothing immoral about seeking sexual gratification from pornography per se. ... Wholesale revulsion ... is an irrational reaction nourished by all sorts of destructive superstitions.”

So religion is a “destructive superstition”??

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Viewpoint - “Feminist”

T. Trent Gegax, Newsweek “... some women ... said they’d be

uncomfortable taking his classes when his sabbatical ends in January.”

Is this a reasonable reaction?

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Viewpoint - Uninformed?

Margie Wylie, Newhouse News: “But [dean]’s computer was in his

home and unlikely to be seen by other Harvard staff.”

Harvard Crimson:“For more than a year, people in

computer services had encountered the porn on his computer.”

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Viewpoint - Uninformed?

Alan Dershowitz, Harvard law prof: Quoted as referring to Techs as

“snoops” and “peeping toms.”

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Violation of Privacy?

• Dean resigns in November.• Harvard keeps embarrassing details

private.• Reporter finds, decides to run story.• Article appears in Boston Globe in

May.

Who exactly violated dean’s privacy?

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Summary

“Informed and Discerning” -not easy, but important.