Wireless networking in a library

Adam Engst's always interesting TIDBITS newsletter (devoted to the Macintosh community) currnently has an article about the deployment of a new wireless network in our local public library. While primarily about the technical issues (and testing) involved, Adam makes one policy observation:

...when the initial discussions about installing a wireless network were underway, there was concern on the part of the library that the wireless network might prove a security risk or other liability, and should perhaps have its access restricted or time of operation limited in some way. When we looked into how the wireless network would tie into the library's wired network, however, we realized it wasn't appreciably different from what was already possible with patrons connecting their laptops to the Ethernet jacks. The public part of the network was separated from the library's intranet, and the firewall served both to reduce the likelihood of most abuses and to log any suspicious activity. It seems highly appropriate that the library, an organization whose mission it is to promote learning and information sharing, ended up with a reasonably open network that doesn't require usernames or more draconian measures.

It is reassuring to learn that at least one library is trying to figure out how to balance openness, anonymity, and security.

Comments

[Rebecca Schreiner]

Sorry to post twice. This is the question directly from our IT folks about concerns of legal liability in a wireless library:

If we have an open and unrestricted wireless network, where there is no login, no tracking or recording of what student’s access or who the students are, then what is the legal liability of the college, if any, if students engage in illegal activities while on this open wireless network? For example, if they engage in hacking, spamming, breaking into gov’t.sites or financial records, traffic in illegal material such as child pornography and this activity is traced back to the school by the authorities, but we have no records of who might have engaged in such activities., does the legal liability fall upon the school itself and can the school itself be taken to task for what would essentially become untraceable crimes? If it is the case that the school is responsible, what individuals would generally be held accountable?

[Rebecca Schreiner]

Our small community college library is about to go wireless. Our IT folks are concerned that our college will have some sort of legal liability if patrons use their laptops to download illegal material or hack into government sites and cause mischief.

Does anyone know if the institution can be held liable in a wireless environment in a library?

[Peter]

Mary's article is right on target. I would think (being a non-lawyer) that the OSP safe harbor provisions of the DMCA should protect a library offering wireless service from charges of liability for contributory or vicarious infringement.

Law and policy don't always mix, however. Universities have been hauled before Congress because they haven't taken responsibility for illegal filesharing by students (even though the law in principle shields universities, and even though most file sharing is done on commercial, not university, networks). In response, universities have fallen over themselves to assume responsibility for the actions of their students. So while I don't see much in the way of legal liabilities (so long as you are truly unaware about what people are doing), there is also an underlying threat of political pressue to consider.

[Mary]

Take a look at

Library Copyright Liability and Pirating Patrons
in California Libraries May 2001 (Vol. 11 No. 5).

http://www.cla-net.org/resources/articles/minow_pirating.php

(I think I hotlinked it under MARY in this post, if I understand how typepad/html works)

[Mike Dargan]

I'd like to be as open as possible, but would I be exposing the library to any copyright infringement liability of patrons were allowed to use the library's Internet connection to download protected materials, such as software, music, or videos?

If we have no liability, then the only concerns are technical and/or security.

Mike Dargan