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Email

by Mike Masnick

Tue, May 12th 2009 7:54am




Filed Under:
email, santa rosa junior college, threats


College Threatens Students Who Use College Initials In Private Email Addresses

from the too-much-free-time dept

Slashdot alerted us to the bizarre story that Santa Rosa Junior College was supposedly sending out threatening emails to students and staff who used private email accounts that included the initials SRJC (so, for example, using [email protected] or whatever). Oddly the original article pointed to has been taken down (though, the comments remain...). But, the same newspaper has published another article where the school stands by the policy and says it will continue to crack down on the "misuse" of its name... though it says it won't take anyone to court, despite the threat letter saying "to avoid any future legal action..."

The school officials still don't see why it's a big deal that they're threatening students. However, their reasoning makes very little sense. "The reason for it is so the college doesn't get misrepresented in some way or make it look like the college is endorsing a product or issue," according to Santa Rosa Junior College President Robert Agrella. But that makes no sense. If a student uses an actual address from the university, wouldn't that risk be much greater? In other words, does the college really think that it's a bigger risk for someone to say something that the college does not endorse from [email protected] or [email protected]? Because it seems fine with the latter, but not the former. The whole thing smacks of college administrators who don't understand technology and have way too much free time on their hands.

27 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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  1.  

    Ha!

    icon
    lavi d SRCJ (profile), May 12th, 2009 @ 8:03am

    FISRCJT!

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  

    Re: Oddly enough

    identicon
    Chronno S. Trigger, May 12th, 2009 @ 8:15am

    You know, I previewed that and it didn't have the link. That's not presently a valid E-Mail account so there's no point clicking on it.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    identicon
    Ima Fish, May 12th, 2009 @ 8:16am

    How would Santa Rosa Junior College even know why I would have the letters SRJC in my email address? If it was trademark issue, it would not matter because the standard would be confusion in the market place. But no one would confuse a mere student for a business. So there's no trademark issue here.

    So does Santa Rosa Junior College seriously believe it owns all use of the sequence of the letters S, R, J, and C, exclusive of trademark?!

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 12th, 2009 @ 8:45am

    Streisand effect in 3.........2.........1...

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  

    Re: Re: Oddly enough

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 12th, 2009 @ 8:48am

    It's not a webpage link, its an email address.
    Notice the mailto: when you hover the mouse over the address.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 12th, 2009 @ 8:50am

    BTW, I did a quick search of the trademark DB on the PTMO website. No one seems to have registered SRJC as a trademark so use it at will.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  

    Re: Oddly enough

    identicon
    Lickity Split, May 12th, 2009 @ 8:54am

    not any more...

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  10.  

    More "Reasoning"

    icon
    lavi d (profile), May 12th, 2009 @ 9:03am

    "The reason for it is so the college doesn't get misrepresented in some way or make it look like the college is endorsing a product or issue," according to Santa Rosa Junior College President Robert Agrella.

    How about making Robert Agrella look, at the least, ignorant of how the internet and trademarks work, and at the worst, a total dumbass?

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  11.  

    Re: Re:

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 12th, 2009 @ 9:24am

    ty for pointing that out #6, i was going to say SRJC is not equal to Santa Rosa Junior College.

    even if Santa Rosa Junior College is equal to SRJC.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  13.  

    Re: New email...

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 12th, 2009 @ 9:43am

    Nice! May the wrath of Monster and Santa Rosa Junior College be on you and your children!

    ;o)

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  16.  

    Re: New email...

    identicon
    Yakko Warner, May 12th, 2009 @ 9:55am

    ROFL

    Lock the comments, we have a winner!

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  18.  

    name change

    identicon
    Sean Robert James Chambers, May 12th, 2009 @ 10:57am

    You mean I cannot use my initials in my email address anymore?

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  19.  

    just registered:

    identicon
    Robbie A, May 12th, 2009 @ 11:03am

    mailto:[email protected] i know you just said to lock it, but i really want to do some destruction with this one.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  20.  

    Google ANY Acronym

    identicon
    paf56, May 12th, 2009 @ 11:03am

    Take any four letters strung together to form an acronym and Google it.

    SRCJ -- An acronym, pronounced SURK-jah, which stands for "socially retarded computer junky".

    Accounting Software :: SRCJ Services

    Scientific Commons: SRCJ Santos

    McAfee SiteAdvisor tests srcj.or.jp for adware, spam, scams, and e-mail practices.

    welcome sign (SRCJ-3808 ) Manufacturer / Manufacturers directory ...

    It does seem college administrators who don't understand technology, perhaps they need to go back to school?

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  21.  
    identicon
    john, May 12th, 2009 @ 11:08am

    If letter pertains to private addresses (aren't they all???) of "students & staff" of the college, then I would presume they want to keep the 'private' part defined; ie, if the college gives you you an email address from their server(s),I would assume sjrc to be part of that addy. All other addy's given out by yahoo, msn, gmail, etc should not try to associate the college in it's name just because you attend or work there. Of course if you do not have an assocaition to the college then having sjrc in your address should not matter.
    Privacy is not just an individual's right but an entity's as well. Individual's & entity's both need to pay more attention to their web presence and therefore need to keep said presence in check.
    all u comedians can blow me

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  22.  
    icon
    billiards (profile), May 12th, 2009 @ 11:11am

    @14, to contact other individuals by impersonating agrella with the intent to slander his character would break much older and more serious laws than cyber bullying. jurors and nancy grace would care about it way less, but it would be more serious.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  23.  
    identicon
    Matt, May 12th, 2009 @ 12:39pm

    Evil gits. It's Discrimination.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  24.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, May 12th, 2009 @ 11:38pm

    Link to news story is now: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090508/ARTICLES/905079854

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  25.  

    SJRC

    identicon
    Robert Agrella, May 14th, 2009 @ 8:29am

    It doesn't matter how stupid I am. I'm smart enough to become SJRC President and get overpaid for occupying my chair and exerting my authority. Now I answer to nobody. That's all that matters. RA.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  26.  

    how to hack facebook passwords

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    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  27.  
    identicon
    Brandon Stewart, FIRE, Jul 21st, 2009 @ 8:32am

    FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, has issued the following press release about this issue:

    http://www.thefire.org/article/10878.html

    Free Speech Chilled at Santa Rosa Junior College: Administration Threatens Those Who Use Its Initials in Private E-mail Addresses and Domain Names

    SANTA ROSA, Calif., July 20, 2009—Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) has failed to lift an unconstitutional ban on "unofficial" use of the initials "SRJC" in private e-mail addresses and website domain names, chilling the expression of students and faculty. After a faculty member came to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help, FIRE asked SRJC to lift its overbroad ban and to clarify the First Amendment rights of SRJC community members. SRJC, however, has told FIRE it intends to continue with its unconstitutional efforts to ban unofficial use of the college's name ...

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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