My university runs like a corporate IT department for its offices, hospital, etc. but for any part of it an undergrad will ever see, IT is just a WiFi-based ISP.
My employer does that for company-issue laptops (we keep root as long as we accept the rootkit), but for personal ones that's unbelievable.
In any case, my attitude was that it was their network and they could put any restrictions on it, although they may be in very bad taste.
Would you say the same of Comcast? When it is the only ISP serving the apartment you just signed a lease on?
Because that is basically the position of an undergrad in university housing with respect to "their network." You could say they had a choice not to go to that school, but for a state school system?
On a network engineering level, something is deeply wrong if you can't separate internet access from access to sensitive resources. Or if you are treating a subnet which includes tens of thousands of students as "trusted."
I don't disagree with you. And I hate that I only have one choice of ISP.
I'm sure they were able to separate internet access from sensitive resources. But without forcing their users to install some piece of shit tracking software, how would they know who to forward letters to from the MPAA? ;)