Fergie's Tech Blog

Virginia Tech Professors Question Copying of Hard Drive Data

Beth Macy and Greg Esposito write in The Roanoke Times:

The Virginia Attorney General's Office has ordered Virginia Tech to copy the hard drives of every Tech faculty and staff person who had contact with gunman Seung-Hui Cho, and some professors are not happy about their methods.

So far, one-quarter of 130 hard drives have been copied, including the computer files of every English professor who taught Cho, according to English department chairwoman Carolyn Rude.

The reason, say Rude and other professors, is to preserve data -- both for the investigation and in anticipation of possible lawsuits, which would presumably be filed by victims' families. "Because these are state-owned computers, they have a right to do that," Rude said.

But in the midst of an ongoing investigation -- and a little more than three months since Cho killed 32 people and himself -- the stakes are high, and the mood is tense.

posted by Fergie @ 7/28/2007 01:29:00 PM