FBI wants students to stop travelling

[GRiM]

THE FBI IS visiting the nation's top technical universities in a bid to stop students taking their holidays outside the country.

MIT, Boston College, and the University of Massachusetts, have all had a visit from the spooks to warn them about the dangers of foreign spies and terrorists stealing sensitive academic research.

The FBI wants the universities to impose rules that will stop US university students from working late at the campus, travelling abroad, showing an interest in their colleagues' work, or have friends outside the United States, engaging in independent research, or making extra money without the prior consent of the authorities.

The rules are part of guidelines given to administrators by the FBI.

The Feds are convinced that if you are doing any of these things you are likely to be a foreign agent who is nicking technology for foreign powers.

Following rules which have been abandoned in Eastern Europe, faculty, staff and students are encouraged to spy on their colleagues for signs of suspicious behaviour and report any concerns to the FBI or the military.

There is no indication yet that the universities will follow this advice.

Article 1

For a more detailed article klick -->Article 2

 

[j0da]

Gosh, GRiM, this is outright chilling :O

So, now that the poor and immigrants were taken care of there comes time for intelectuals. Cut the smart people from information coming from uncontrolled sources, instigate distrust and fear - and you got it - those most able to figure things out won't figure out much anymore.

Oh, and I guess PTB didn't forget student's movement from the sixties - looks like controllers thinks it's high time to get even.

 

[Zadius Sky]

Now I'm glad I graduated from university. Don't want to see this happened. I like traveling. :(

 

[dant]

Ah, the iron-grip is slowly closing in... the borders are also slowly
closing in... travel is being more and more restricted... and our freedoms
are being throttled and curtailed (who says we ever had it?) ... and even
the air is 'not free' to breath unless all smoking is banned (but contrails
and smokestack emissions ARE approved by the EPA)... guns are banned
in major cities (and "pop guns" are not allowed for kiddies either)... Welcome
to George Orwell's 1984 and fascism is here to stay! Need I say any more?

 

[GRiM]

And the signs point to even higher levels of madness before or it might get better. I felt a slight panicy feeling about my Work this week with
all the bad news that constantly reminds you that you are not a "conspiracy-theorist", but more a conspiracy observer.

 

[stardust]

Look at this reply to the article

http://pressesc.com/01182668252_espionage_indicators

FBI's only trying to help
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 2007-06-24 08:29.

FBI is only interested in forming partnerships with universities to help academics safe guard their intellectual property from academic espionage. This will in no way hurt the freedoms of university students.

Why do you have to put a 1984 spin on everything?

The US students can sleep easy in their bed!

There will just have a little climate of suspicion on the campus and some denounciations to the FBI because your colleague told you " And you make headway in your work?"
But if you see Big Brother everywhere, take a rest...

I don't know if something is going on in Sarkoland, but they are talking about universities reforms ( one of the big project of Sarkozy).
Sarkozy himself ( and no more his minister) drives the negociation with the universities.

 

[brainwave]

This is insane. So now the FBI advices a limit student researchers out of the country to augment the already existing limits on those coming in.You can't practice science in this atmosphere. Intellectual growth and development requires the very thing they are trying to limit.


From a practical standpoint, universities that adhere to this may as well close down or severely limit their science programs at both the undergrad and graduate levels. This sort of garbage will only lead to shutting down already limited importation of scientists. Make no bones about it our scientists are imported. Who is going to teach undergraduate bio, chemistry and physics labs if we can't import grad students and post-docs? No post-docs and grad students means no graduate programs. In the short term big pharma wins because existing professors would have litte choice but to go there after their departments are downsized or eliminated.

In the long term it is more disasterous that it already is but I guess the PTB knows something about not needing to worry about long term. "Discoveries" and basic research have increasing become the realm of big pharma and less that of academia anyway. They keep people busy on what they want you to study not necessarily what is interesting and really important. The erosion of US high school and university science has been ongoing. They have mostly been functioning because they are in bed with big Pharma in some way shape or form (donated microscopes does a lot for students wanting to work with you later).

As a grad student I was recently invited to talk about my program to a group of grant reviewers. The big issue coming from the NIH big wigs is the collapse of American science programs due to lack of interest by American students. Most students are interested in business and law so the government is willing to give money for studies if you are a citizen and show even average scientific aptitude. American science has long been the domain of immigrants 911 but a damper on that. Homeland security has made it very difficult to recruit. One prominent professional society lobbied hard to reduce some of the restrictions in hopes of maintaining the thin and rapidly fraying thread of university science programs.

They got a slight ease of restrictions in a manner best described in a quote from one society director, "homeland security decided to ease up a bit when they decided the chinese were not terrorist a threat." While all the labs i've been in have always had a relatively high number of Chinese post-docs and grad students, I guess it will become higher because they are deemed a slightly non risk for terrorismk. I work with no problem with my chinese lab mates but the question that runs through my head is does this then mean everyone else from the east (near, middle and far) is a terrorist risk? I the immigration and study restrictions isn't enough for the FBI and their bosses, who had to counter whatever restrictions HS lifted slightly to allow for chinese students. I bet it's not such a problem for big pharma to import their scientists.