n The Behrend Beac&n L\ January 17, 2003 » A** 88 ” Vo,L *'A ‘Penn State ‘Erie Student Piiblieatian* mm&ocouem m ‘ 8 UHW& Spike Lee shakes up by Erin McCarty news editor “I’m glad it stopped snowing." Spike Lee quipped as lie greeted an audience of hundreds in Erie Hall who braved Wednesday’s blustery squalls to hear the acclaimed filmmaker's address. Maleficent weather conditions were soon forgotten as Lee launched into a lecture detailing, among other topics, the importance of education and his disappointment with today's media. “One of mv great regrets is that I did not really do as well as I was capable of in college," said Lee. After two years of college, he had exhausted his supply Beh rend student pleads guilty in child-porn case A Penn State Behrend student admitted to having child pornog raphy on his computer while attending and living at Behrend. On Jan. 8, Jeffrey A. Ewing, 20, pleaded guilty in Erie County Criminal Court to a misdemeanor charge of obscene and other sexually explicit materials and performances. Ewing admitted to having 10 video clips of children engaged in sexually explicit be havior. An Erie Times News recent report cited a criminal complaint filed in the case, saying a man told campus police Ewing had the child pornography, “making it available to anyone.” Ewing was charged April 26 after campus police responded to a complaint and found child pornography on Ewing’s computer at 102 Ohio Hall, according to the complaint. J.E. Harrington of the Penn State Behrend police was the arresting officer, according to the Penn State Behrend Police and Safety office. Sentencing for Ewing is set for Feb. 18. This is not the first case of child pornography at Behrend. Chad Warren pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in 1999 while living at Lawrence Hall. Brian Scott Jackman, was arrested in October 1998 on eight felony charges of using a university computer to collect and trade child pornography while he was enrolled at Behrend. According to Ron Hoffman, manager of Network and Information Services, Penn State University does not monitor content on student’s computers due to privacy issues. “That is not to say someone else is not monitoring them,” said Hoffman. Behrend students are subject to the same monitoring of the general public by various government and law enforcement agencies. NEWS 1-3 HUMOR 6 CALENDAR 10 NEWSROOM* 898 6488 c maii • Offices are located NATIONAL CAMPUS NEWS 4 FEATURES 7 SPORTS 11-12 my 000 cnfo u u E ’^' lL ’, downstairs in the EDITORIAL 5 aaf ft q FAX: 898-6019 behrcolls@aol.com downstairs in the cUITUnIAL 5 A&E 8-9 Reed Union Building of electives but still had not decided on say that doing what you love does not a major. Urged by his advisor to come back in the fall with a choice of major, Lee spent the summer of 1977 the notorious Summer of Sam which he would later revisit in film— by roaming New York with his Super 8 camera. By the end of the summer, he had found his focus “I was very lucky because 1 found out what it is 1 love,” Lee said. “That’s why college is so important.” He went on to by Kevin Fallon editor-in-chief lnside "You control the media, you can in fluence hozv people think. You influ ence how people think and you don't need bombs." necessarily mean doing something that will make you a great deal of money. Many students are attending college because of the sacrifices made by their Bookstore blues Students rush to get their books on Monday. They were welcomed back only to face long lines at the bookstore - Spike Lee PHOTO BY KEVIN FALLON/BEHREND BEACON Behrend parents in classmates are now overweight, bald, unhappy, and divorced,” said Lee. “They started going down this p Contact Us v\-' r-.ii-V-. :-T- order to get them a g» education. Mindful of wl their parents have given ui they often pursue carer that will allow them repay that debt convince their parents thi education was worth cost. “Far too many of continued on page 3 Hackers pry into Behrend’s network during break Penn State boosts level of computer security throughout University by Rob Wynne managing editor During the last week of December, one of Behrend’s computers was hacked into, leaving a “Star Trek - Nemesis" movie on a simplified file-transfer protocol (FTP) service. Although relatively harmless, this recent hack has prompted University officials to take a look at higher levels of computer security. The cracked machine was recognized by University Park’s Internet security enforcement agency and removed from Penn State’s network, according to statements from the computer center. Additional computers that monitor suspicious activity were also placed on Behrend’s network to scan for potential weaknesses and/or threats. According to Ron Hoffman, manager of network and information systems, Behrend’s computer systems, as well as students’ machines in the residence halls are hit twice per second by parties seeking to crack passwords. “ People use easily cracked passwords, like their name or birthday,” said Hoffman. He suggests students and faculty should not lend out a password and should frequently change it. Jim Serafin, a computer center technician, said a hacker could gain a variety of things by cracking into someone else’s computer. “They [hackers] could download copyrighted information for redistribution, access checking account information... Graham Spanier recently about identity theft, and how bank account information, social security numbers, and credit-card information is stored in programs that allow for easy purchasing,” said Serafin. Other colleges and universities have HACKERS PHOTO: KEVIN FALLON7BEHREND BEACON continued on page
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