The gloves are off in a battle for free speech! In this corner, weighing in at 1,000 pounds, is Arizona State University, with a hundred and fifty-six knockouts an undefeated record. In that corner is change.org, tipping the scales at 110 pounds, with an acid stomach and sporting an inhaler. Well, that\u2019s what some people would like you to believe \u2013 that poor li\u2019l change.org has been done wrong by ASU, the Earth equivalent of the evil Star Wars Empire. Reality, however, is normally more pragmatic, less myopic, and well\u2026 just plain real. So if both sides have a point to make in this debate, the question then becomes: where does free speech stop and spam begin?<\/p>\n

When we talk about the evils of spam, it\u2019s easy to get people on board with it because no one\u2019s going to disagree with the simple premise that spam is bad. It\u2019s like getting people to chime in on Mondays, broccoli and every Hollywood sequel ever made outside of The Godfather Part II<\/em>. Of course they\u2019re going to agree that it\u2019s bad. Evil. Taboo. The enemy. But what if it wasn\u2019t so black and white? What if one person\u2019s spam was another\u2019s panacea? Where do you draw the line? Who draws it? Suddenly, the idea that spam is a cut and dried discussion might fall a little flat, if exactly what spam is<\/em> becomes a contentious issue.<\/p>\n

Case in point:<\/strong> Arizona State University, the hallowed institution located in Phoenix, Arizona, which recently chose to block all incoming emails from the petition website change.org<\/a>. A popular site that\u2019s gained a head of steam recently with the Occupy Wall Street movement, change.org\u2019s mission seems to be to enact social change through online petitions. Apparently, ASU isn\u2019t impressed enough with the site\u2019s mandate to let it slip when email began flooding the institution\u2019s inboxes. According to local newsmagazine DowntownDevil.com<\/a>, \u201cA statement released by ASU spokeswoman Julie Newberg said ASU began blocking messages from the website in December after discovering it was a source of spam emails.\u201d According to Newberg, \u201cAlthough the individual who sent the email may not consider himself a spammer, he acquired a significant number of ASU email addresses, which he used to send unsolicited, unwanted email, which is the definition of spam.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s little sense in disagreeing with Ms. Newberg on the definition of spam, but the university\u2019s actions beg the question of whether this action against a seemingly benevolent organization is a breach of free speech. More so, can this action be deemed a form of censorship? Before you weigh in, consider this: \u201cNewberg also said ASU is blocking all outbound connections to the change.org server. ASU routinely blocks servers to reduce risk to students, faculty and staff, Newberg said, but no examples of websites ASU has blocked other than change.org had been provided by Thursday evening.\u201d Newberg goes on to say that \u201c[ASU respects] the rights of all individuals to express their opinions\u2026however, we must reserve the right to protect the use of our limited and valuable network resources for legitimate academic, research and administrative uses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exactly how change.org is a risk to students, faculty and staff is unclear, but even the most closed minded among us must concede that this action by the university goes beyond the realm of simple email spam filtering and begins to trod on the toes of a scorched earth policy. If one petitioning web domain represents a threat to the university\u2019s bandwidth, maybe the ASU Board of Governors should consider blocking Facebook and YouTube while they\u2019re at it. Hey, it\u2019s just a suggestion.<\/p>\n

In a bit of an Ah-HAH! Moment, the article divulges a few tidbits that help piece together what may be happening here: \u201cA Tumblr blog post<\/a> on Dec. 7, 2011, accused ASU of censorship and blocking the freedom of expression of students, staff and faculty. The post read, in part, \u2018Not only is this outrageous, but it is a violation of First Amendment rights of both ASU students as well as the rights of Change.org.\u2019 The Tumblr post claimed ASU blocked change.org because of a petition created by ASU students called \u2018Arizona State University: Reduce the costs of education for Arizona State University students.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Ah. A petition on reducing costs to students. Is it really conceivable that the institution blocked a single domain because of a petition? It hardly seems likely. Possible, however, is that the university rushed to judgment in declaring change.org a purveyor of spam. What do you think?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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