Issue date: 4/15/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Kellie Jasso [Click to enlarge]

In 1998, the Internet was still a new invention for the academic world of Texas A&M. Professors who dared to use it were "cutting edge," maybe even "hip." There were no rules yet, no regulations. The Internet was the Wild West, without the bandits, and professors who used the Internet to reach their classes were the eccentric cowboys.

Now, 10 years later, the bandits are everywhere. Identity theft on the Internet is rampant, and the early files of those Internet cowboys from 1998 make for the easiest of prey.

Clyde Munster, a professor for the department of biological and agricultural engineering at A&M, was shocked this winter to learn that a spreadsheet containing the names, grades and partial Social Security Numbers of 44 students from a class he had taught in 1998 was discovered on the Internet.

The past was still available to be robbed by the present, and it took the University 10 years to realize it.

"Back then, the Internet was a relatively new way of disseminating course information," Munster said. "It's changed quite a bit. Now, it's pretty common to get your courses off the Internet, but 10 years ago, it was relatively new and not many people did it.

"The rules weren't really well understood. In many ways, there weren't any rules established, to tell the truth."

The file was an old Excel spreadsheet that had been used to organize the grades for a class. A&M students are familiar with using their Student ID numbers to access such information in most classes, but this is a relatively new method for student identification. SSNs used to be the norm and they weren't completely phased out until 2005.

Steve Searcy, the associate department head of the department of biological and agricultural engineering at A&M, said the information was stored in such a way that would not be acceptable with today's standards.

"At the age that I understand it is, in terms of information that was contained, it was probably a file that was handled in a way that may have been acceptable at the time," Searcy said.

Continued...

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