Following outcries of First Amendment violations, ASU removed its network restriction Friday to Change.org, which housed a petition urging the University to reduce tuition.
"In order to seek a balance between those concerns and protecting the University computing environment, the University has removed the restriction against site access from University computing resources," an ASU statement said.
The University blocked access to Change.org after the petition website reportedly accessed the ASU network to "spam thousands of University email accounts in early December 2011," according to the statement.
"ASU strongly supports the First Amendment and an individual’s or group’s right to free speech," the statement said. "The university also strongly supports privacy and an individual’s right not to be subjected to the receipt of spam or the associated security risks that can come with such email."
Restrictions to Change.org and the petition asking for lower tuition for ASU students on the ASU Wi-Fi network was lifted Friday, according to University officials.Many first became aware of the restriction through a Tumblr post that was shared on the popular website Reddit Thursday. The Tumblr post is dated Dec. 7, 2011, and the original author is unknown.
The petition was asking for signatures to support lowering the cost of tuition at ASU. There are 550 signatures of Saturday.
Free Press, a national nonprofit organization that works to promote quality journalism and universal access to communications, made a statement Saturday morning on the incident.
“Arizona State administrators ultimately made the right decision in restoring access to Change.org," Free Press Internet Campaign Director Josh Levy said. "We hope ASU understands that the free speech rights of its students are paramount."
Levy's statement urged ASU to evaluate its Internet policies for potential censorship.
"The university needs to stop indiscriminately blocking sites and to find ways to differentiate spam from legitimate and lawful sites," Levy said.
Read more about the University community's reaction to the block here.
