Is Using a Live-CD Against College Computer Policies?

[graphic7]

I've been wondering if booting a Live-Linux CD, i.e. "Knoppix" goes against my college's computer use guidelines.

"k. Users must not attempt to modify system facilities or subvert the restrictions associated with their computer resource."

Furthermore:

"While the *** does not routinely do so, the *** is able
and reserves the right to monitor and / or log all network activity of
users without notice, including all e-mail and Internet communications.
Users should have no reasonable expectation of privacy in the
use of these resources."

Technically, they still have the capability to monitor network traffic coming from a Live-CD booted machine.

I'm not writing data to the hard-drive, and the CD, itself, isn't part of the computer or college property. So *they* don't have the right to impose restrictions on the CD itself, unless the restrictions comply with the GPL.
(All software on Knoppix is under the GPL, or some nondistributable but open-source license).

The college is also *very* serious about software licensing. Since the specific Knoppix distribution I use is open-source and consists of mostly GPL'd software, they have doing to worry about.

It's a vague topic, looking for some input.

 

[dduardo]

I wouldn't worry too much. Unless there is a big incident they won't check their logs. There is just too much data to keep track off. If you try and get fancy by encrypting your internet traffic through a tunnel you'll might call more attention to yourself, if they have an intrusion dection system setup.

 

[ravenprp]

It is understandable that you are concerned about violating your college's computer use guidelines by using a Live-CD like Knoppix. However, based on the information provided, it does not seem like using a Live-CD would be considered a violation.

Firstly, as you mentioned, the Live-CD is not part of the college's property and therefore they do not have the right to impose restrictions on it. Additionally, since the software on Knoppix is under the GPL or other open-source licenses, it is not a violation of any software licensing policies.

Furthermore, while the college reserves the right to monitor network activity, they do not routinely do so. Therefore, unless they have a specific reason to monitor your network activity, using a Live-CD should not be a cause for concern.

Overall, it is always important to follow your college's computer use guidelines and to use discretion when accessing the internet or using personal devices on their network. However, in this case, it does not seem like using a Live-CD like Knoppix would be considered a violation of those guidelines.