The University of Texas announced Sunday that their computer systems had been breached and a ton of personal records had been compromised.

This type of news usually means that I would be kicking the crap out someone, but in this case it is anything but. Within two days of the breach (they found out last Friday), UT had let the word out. By Monday morning they were analyzing the damage toll, setting up hotlines for prospective victims (see the numbers below), and generally jumping through hoops to make sure their “customers” were protected. They announced, they warned, they took responsibility.

The University of Texas officials didn’t hide, point fingers or engage in any other action you might suspect from a publically funded organization that was subject to a personal data compromise. No, they engaged in logical and tangible damage control instead.

UT deserves kudos for acting in such a highly forthright manner.

Our “friends” in Washington might take note of it as well, as they ponder legislation to similar affects.

FYI: HOTLINE NUMBER FOR POTENTIAL UT BREACH VICTIMS: 475-9020 or 866-657-9400.

A court has ruled that the University of Texas can block online dating e-mails that came from a local internet vendor. Nice move, according to the dozens of introverted morons who couldn’t get a date (even from an online site), and took to complaining instead.

Of course, UT sold the addresses to the service, and then decided to block the solicitations, which I say is a great way to make money…not! It begs the question as to whether other educational institutions are up to the same shenanigans, but at least now we know there is some legal precedent to stand behind them if they are.

Read between the lines (paragraph 2 and paragraph 4, that is), and you might catch the privacy issue (I mean idiocy) of this story (HoustonChronicle.com - Dating site: UT improperly blocked e-mails).

So, it seems (at least LonghornSingles claims) that the University of Texas SOLD the email addresses of staff and students to LonghornSingles, and then proceeded to block the messages they sent.

I’d be pissed off too. But LonghornSingles shouldn’t be the only ones.

UT sells the names, and then prevents messages from the buyer from entering their system. Hmm. That sounds like a darn good way to make some extra cash. Not.

I am not sure if UT planned this little trick, or sold the information and later realized it wasn’t such a good idea, but either way, someone should get canned. If I was a UT staff or student member, I would be raising bloody hell.

What that fine educational institution doesn’t realize is that those email address may leak into “the open”. Furthermore, aren’t there some privacy provisions that staff and students are legally entitled to? Maybe the administration at UT spends too much time in cattle pastures searching for mushrooms, or maybe they actually have the right to sell those addresses. Either way, every staff and student on that campus should get a Yahoo account and then steadfastly refuse to communicate via UT’s dirty little system.

They cut off UT’s cheap trick for putting extra coin in their pockets, AND get a date!

That is, if LonghornSingles is claiming correctly.