YouCSD

Pat Jacoby of UCSD issued a press release on Thursday reporting that UCSD was chosen by The (London) Times Higher Education Supplement as the 24^th best university in the world. While this is great for UCSD and great for my resumé since I am a Triton alumnus, there is a recent controversy developing on campus about blogs which has me worried.

It all starts more than a year ago when Slashdot reported that the popular forum for students, UCSDuncensored was shut down by Nicholas Aguilar for copyright infringement. (Aguilar is no stranger to controversy - he also shut down the student run publication The Koala in 2002)

UCSDuncensored has since moved to SDuncensored and remains a valuable forum of participatory media to express and learn what is happening both on and off campus. (Their terms of service is exhaustive)

A year later and Slashdot brings us Round 2. Aguilar and company are now after the fantastic student run blog, YouCSD because, as the Guardian reports:

The site, which contains the letters “UCSD” in its hyperlink, is in violation of California’s education code, which reserves the “University of California” name as the property of the state, campus counsel Ann Parode said. According to the regulation, the name may not be used without the permission of the UC Board of Regents. It has also used a picture of Geisel Library on its banner, in violation of the university’s trademark for the library’s image, Parode said.

If you did not know it is illegal to use a picture of Geisel Library as a logo on your site, it is because you have not read the 100 page plus PDF file explaining so. (YouCSD has since taken down the picture)

The Guardian goes on to explain that:

Parode is not currently taking action against other Internet sites that use the university’s acronym, such as MeetUCSD.com, which is advertised on the Guardian Web site. The Guardian hyperlink also includes the university’s acronym. The decision to pursue YouCSD.com, Parode said, was not made because of its content but because of specific complaints about the page made to her office.

Meanwhile, the psuedonymous bloggers at YouCSD say they have been in contact with the ACLU and as far as I know they are still exploring their legal options. (I will ask them to comment on this post.)

I would like to thank Thivai for sending me the scoop.

Other related links:

• UCSDprofessor.com (which is now hosted on a UCSD server)
• Similar sites escape punishment, as should UCSDuncensored.com
• Use of UCSD moniker broke rules so Web site must be shut down
• Xanga UCSD Blogring