RSS
Twitter
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 nameSRJC@gmail.com 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 nameSRCJ@gmail.com or name@santarosa.edu? 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.
Reader Comments
(Flattened / Threaded)
Ha!
FISRCJT!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Oddly enough
SRJCollege@gmail.com is available. One would think that if they have such a problem with using their initials they would be all over that.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Oddly enough
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 comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Re: Oddly enough
It's not a webpage link, its an email address.
Notice the mailto: when you hover the mouse over the address.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Oddly enough
not any more...
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
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 comment) (link to this comment)
Re:
A quick google search shows that SRJC is used for a lot of things other than Santa Rosa Junior College:
http://www.findaccountingsoftware.com/software/developer/1968
http://srcjservices.com /
www.pemc.org/webadmin/newsletter/pipeApril08.pdf20080716140138.pdf
www.alexa.com/data/details/main/srcj.info
www.alexa.com/data/details/main/srcj.info
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Re:
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 comment) (link to this comment)
Streisand effect in 3.........2.........1...
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
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 comment) (link to this comment)
More "Reasoning"
"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 comment) (link to this comment)
New email...
Just so everybody knows, my new email address is monster.srjc@gmail.com.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: New email...
Nice! May the wrath of Monster and Santa Rosa Junior College be on you and your children!
;o)
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: New email...
monster.srjc@gmail.com is much better than my offering of
srjcsucks@gmail.com
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Re: New email...
here's another one: agrella.is.an.ass.srjc@gmail.com
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: New email...
ROFL
Lock the comments, we have a winner!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
careful what email address you register....
In light of the Lori Drew case you might be convicted of "hacking" if you registered:
ragrella@gmail.com, ragrellasrjc@gmail.com, rasrjc@gmail.com, .....
......
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
name change
You mean I cannot use my initials in my email address anymore?
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
just registered:
mailto:RAgrellaSRJC@gmail.com i know you just said to lock it, but i really want to do some destruction with this one.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Google ANY Acronym
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 comment) (link to this comment)
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 comment) (link to this comment)
@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 comment) (link to this comment)
Evil gits. It's Discrimination.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Link to news story is now: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090508/ARTICLES/905079854
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
SJRC
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 comment) (link to this comment)
how to hack facebook passwords
http://www.rayahari.com/hack-Facebook-passwords.php - I have only been using this for a few weeks, but so far this is the best hacking place that I have used, they know hack into facebook account , they are not only is extremely helpful, but who also seems to genuinely care. I would highly recommend RayaHari.com to anyone!
I love Raya Hari. Not only is it a fantastic deal but the staff are incredibly helpful and respond to any questions/requests extremely quickly. I would recommend this service to anyone looking for facebook hacking password.
BTW, I found another website that can hack into someones yahoo passwords and other one specialized in hack hotmail passwords.
Michael Bellamy, Lincoln
England
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, has issued the following press release about this issue:
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Add Your Comment