English students warned that their Internet correspondence will be viewed by the authorities

The information that the entire electronic correspondence will be collected and viewed by the British authorities caused acute discontent from students and trade union employees.

One of the most prestigious universities of Great Britain, the Royal College of London (King's College London) warned students and employees that their emails could be stored and controlled as part of the government program to prevent radical moods in university towns. Employees covered anxiety after the Royal College of London (KCL) on the entrance page to the university e -mail service began to request the consent of the university students and employees to “save and monitor” their emails. The representative of the KCL student trade union called it a “violation of trust”, adding:

"Students who have not committed any crimes [for some reason] are now considered as suspects."

The introduction of the obligation to take “preventive measures” in universities is a very controversial phenomenon, since among academics, professors, students and other employees of higher educational institutions there is a risk of creating a culture of distrust and restrictions on vital discussions.

A notice at the entrance to the KCL service says: “This system is allowed only for use by the to the users of the Royal College of London. [Correspondence] of people using this computer system, regardless of their powers, is subject to recording and monitoring.

The “Law on the Prevention of Terrorism” of 2015 obliges to take preventive measures. The purpose of this duty [assigned to KCL] is to help prevent people in terrorist activities. You are forbidden to create, download, store or transmit illegal materials, or obscene, offensive, discrediting, threatening, discriminatory or extremist materials. The university reserves the right to block or control access to such material.

Anyone who uses this system directly agrees to such control and reports that if such monitoring reveals possible evidence of criminal activity, the system can provide evidence collected by monitoring, law enforcement officers. ”

The Council for Financing Higher Education of England (HEFCE), which is responsible for monitoring the fulfillment by educational institutions of its duties, does not see anything reprehensible in KCL, and indicates that other institutions pursue the same policy.

In November last year, the representative of KCL recalled that their university has an international center for the study of radicalism and political violence, and assures that the university does not engage in “active” monitoring of emails, but he only notifies users, which carries such an obligation and has the full right to do this if necessary. According to him, the Royal College is proud of the variety and activity of his academic community, and any monitoring will be part of the usual security compliance.

One of the KCL students, who was one of the first to pay attention to this story, sees in the process of observing the letters of students and employees the creation of a atmosphere of fear and intimidation, especially for those involved in political processes or somehow manifest themselves in this field within a university town. According to him, this only gives rise to paranoia among students, will force many politically active and Muslim students to censor themselves.

Hefce reports that although universities have reached significant progress in the implementation of the necessary security measures, in August 2016, almost 50 institutions did not fully observe these measures. Also, according to them, the providers introduced personnel training processes monitoring the situation involving people in extremist activity, and the State Minister for Universities and Science Johnson in every possible way welcomes HEFCE, believing that British universities should play the leading to prevent terrorism, while maintaining freedom university towns.

The National Union of Students (NUS) condemns any systematic monitoring of emails:

“This is another example of how the agenda about the prevention of terrorism and involvement in extremism actually adjusting our educational institutions against their own students, plants the culture of the rhinestone, limits academically freedom and make Islamophobia the usual phenomenon.”

According to Malia Buatya, NUS is deeply concerned about the consequences that can bring systematic monitoring of messages in terms of influences on students, in particular, dark-skinned and Muslim students, as well as participating in political campaigns, research and similar activities. She was supported by the Secretary General of the Union of Universities and Colleges (UCU) Sally Hunt, saying that universities should refrain from actions that create a culture of distrust in the university town, actually prohibiting the debate and discussion.

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