well this is just embarrassing.the latest news in the denis rancourt saga is the uncovering of some extremely seedy student involvement.
in other words, spies!!!
in these blogs (here) we wrote about the involvement of maureen robinson, a student who was being paid by the university legal counsel to spy on professor rancourt.
(anyone who knows anything about universities and their legal counsel isn't going to be surprised here. consider how much york university recently spent on "top notch" legal counsel will mcdowell in their battle against professor david noble--a figure that the university refuses to disclose.)
what we didn't realize then was the lengths to which ms. robinson was going to get her "information" on dr. rancourt.
according to ottawa independent media ms. robinson engaged in the following methods for her "job":
- she recorded(covertly) conversations of others. she created a FAKE facebook identity(Nathalie Page) to covertly join activist student events and discussion groups.
- she used this fake account to make enquiries about protest events.
- she created a fake gmail account(based on her fake facebook account) to make enquiries.
- made false pretence enquiries to outside editors of blogs and outside conference organizers.
- sent approximately 100 emails back and forth between herself and university legal counsel.
so first of all, facebook has a policy about making fake accounts in its facebook statement of rights and responsibilities. in fact, they have policies about a lot of the shit this student did.
(from the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities)
"3. Safety
We do our best to keep Facebook safe, but we cannot guarantee it. We need your help to do that, which includes the following commitments:
10. You will not use Facebook to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory. "
AND
"4. Registration and Account Security
Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:
We do our best to keep Facebook safe, but we cannot guarantee it. We need your help to do that, which includes the following commitments:
10. You will not use Facebook to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory. "
AND
"4. Registration and Account Security
Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:
1. You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission. "
toss in that maureen robinson is a student journalist and you have one sick and twisted plot against a professor.
it's too bad that ms. robinson didn't decide to put her reporting skills to good use. instead, she will forever go down in university politics history as a mole, a snitch, as an affront to the institution of student journalism, used as a pawn by a university that clearly doesn't give a shit what happens to her.
it's sad kind of, to think of what universities have done to students. but who knows, maybe ms. robinson's major aspiration in life was to become a spy.. in which case, she should reconsider because she really isn't very good at it.
toss in that maureen robinson is a student journalist and you have one sick and twisted plot against a professor.
it's too bad that ms. robinson didn't decide to put her reporting skills to good use. instead, she will forever go down in university politics history as a mole, a snitch, as an affront to the institution of student journalism, used as a pawn by a university that clearly doesn't give a shit what happens to her.
it's sad kind of, to think of what universities have done to students. but who knows, maybe ms. robinson's major aspiration in life was to become a spy.. in which case, she should reconsider because she really isn't very good at it.
more here: "between a rock and a... well, you know." yayacanada
full text of professor rancourt's grievance: http://rancourt.academicfreedom.ca/Data/Documents/grievances/G-25-grievance-covert-surveillance-Nov-22-2009.pdf
full text of professor rancourt's grievance: http://rancourt.academicfreedom.ca/Data/Documents/grievances/G-25-grievance-covert-surveillance-Nov-22-2009.pdf
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