mgridley.com — University of Portland VP of Information Services has used the Patriot Act against several students. One student wrote a program to bypass Cisco Clean Access and distributed it to a select few. The programmer was suspended for a year and essentially told he was a terrorist. The VP of IS wasn't even able to recognize the code used. It was C++.
Apr 22, 2007 View in Crawl 4
p2pintelApr 22, 2007
Just sent Bryon an email on how he justifies his action of blocking legal p2p downloads while i found interesting that back in 1994 he was with Nibbles & Bits Software in Washington and held ASP Membership in Trade Organizations and Promotion of Shareware Industry. Unless that is another Bryon Fessler :P
brandonpearsallApr 24, 2007
I was not blaming CCA, I was merely stating that it is ridiculous to require crappy anti-virus software and spyware in order to connect to the network.
jamiequintApr 25, 2007
I received this email just a few hours ago from a "friend of a staff person" this is what they have told me, I have also heard similar information corroborated by another individual. The email follows below:"IS members were instructed to set it up so the VP [Vice President of Information Services - Bryon Fessler] could see the email of the people associated to the cisco thing and they discovered more people going around it through that email, who's email they read too. This included at least one member of the faculty. I'm not sure what else happened, but thought this should get out. I think this should go beyond Digg so the word gets spread."
jamiequintApr 25, 2007
Mr. Fessler,Thank you for your response, indeed it is the University's right to punish students as it sees fit, but it is disconcerting that the University's response is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what these students actually did. (Especially when there are non-technical decision makers - Residence Life - on a case as technical as this one) I also find it hard to believe that the Office of Residence Life incorporated the Patriot Act into its letters to Mr. Gridley and other students on its own accord.You state, "I am also aware, having full knowledge of the facts in this case, that in both the student media and the posting of issues related to this case that the facts are incomplete and thus grossly skew the public discussion." While I respect your professional ethics in not disclosing information regarding Mr. Maass and the details of the case, I do have one question I hope you can answer. Did you or did you not reference the Patriot Act at any point during your meetings with Mr. Maass?
numatrixApr 27, 2007
Actually, no, section 2.2 /doesn't/ specify that you can't bypass the security checks like CCA. It says you can't "violate the computer system security". If your machine is secure enough to pass a CCA check, and you skip it, in what way have you violated the computer system security? You haven't. The AUP does need exact actual language that says you can't "evade protection measures" or some other sort of language because it really isn't covered as it is now. I think we agree though that even if it was explicitly listed, it's certainly not worth a suspension.
brandonpearsallMay 3, 2007
LOL
brandonpearsallMay 7, 2007
Again, amasmith, you are in fact posing as a student that has had nothing to do with any of the postings or you. Therefore, you are not a credible source. You have only tried to attack Mr. Gridley and myself. Come back when you have actual facts.
brandonpearsallMay 7, 2007
amasmith,I am glad that you know what happened a YEAR before you even came to campus. Also, if he were selling drugs, the AF would have dropped him. Please post relevant facts to the discussion.rusher2,The student was suspended. The Patriot Act was quoted to him. What more facts do you want?
brandonpearsallMay 12, 2007
Paulharvey2,If Mr. Fessler did not in fact use the Patriot Act against Mr. Maass, then he needs to square that away with the United States Air Force. For one of the documents used in Mr. Maass's investigation has a signed statement by a Major in the AFROTC Detachment stating that Mr. Fessler used the Patriot Act against Mr. Maass.Also, this so called "hack" did not alter anything related to CCA. All changes were made to the computer connecting to the network.
robm15Jul 5, 2007
That is very interesting information.
mmmgridleyJul 22, 2007Submitter
Here are the contents of the letter of resignation:"July 2, 2007Father Beauchamp,I am writing to you today to officially tender my resignation as Vice President for Information Services effective July 2, 2007. I appreciate your leadership and support over the past three years as well as your personal and professional advice. It has been a genuine pleasure working at the University of Portland and I value the opportunities that have been given to me and the things that I have learned.Sincerely,Bryon Fessler"His resignation was effective immediately. This does not seem like it was planned on his part. I wonder why he was possibly forced to resign. Does anyone know? I have heard several rumors now that his "forced" resignation was due to misappropriated funds. Can anyone verify this?
robm15Jul 29, 2007
Wow, the misappropriation of funds does make sense when you take into consideration the other comments made in this thread related to how Mr. Fessler did more for the computing department than any other previous IT vice president. It made me wonder where the funds to do it came from, this opens up a whole other line of thought now. And I wonder which department inappropriately took the hit for his desires.
awinkAug 24, 2007
Awink here from the media. I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on this whole affair. Things are on the hush hush but justice must be served. Please contact me at scoopsofinformation@gmail.com.
awinkAug 24, 2007
Awink here from the media. I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on this whole affair. Things are on the hush hush but justice must be served. Please contact me at scoopsofinformation@gmail.com. Brandon and Dustin, you're input would be greatly appreciated.