While entry swipe data is not compiled centrally, according to Madden, each individual location has its own system for monitoring and storing the information, which could lead to variations in the amount of time that information is stored.

But Madden says that like the data, the information received from the central ID system is extremely minimal, containing only the necessities required by individual access points to verify identity.

“There is a central database of Harvard IDs that have been issued and that data is shared with at least some of the physical access systems,” Madden says. “But, they get a very stripped down access.”

CALL ON ME

A “serial whisperer” who harassed students over the telephone in 2001 may still be at large, but Harvard has no intention of increasing the protections for student contact information. Rather, at the conclusion of the 2004-2005 academic year, contact information for FAS students will be publicly available unless students opt out.

According to the FAS directory website, all student privacy levels will be reset “at the end of the 2004-2005 academic year” to the least restrictive security level, where it is displayed in “publicly accessible” Harvard directories including the harvard.edu phone book. Students must manually change the security level of their contact information to prevent it from becoming publicly available.

Previously, the directory default was set to level 4, “Display only within Harvard in print or online,” according to the website.

But Directory Services Product Manager Jane E. Hill writes in an e-mail that students have not yet raised any concerns about this issue.

The directory services on the harvard.edu website list students’ dorm rooms, mailing addresses, e-mail addresses, and room phone numbers.

According to Harvard University Police Department spokesman Steven G. Catalano, Harvard students report between 15 and 20 inappropriate phone calls each year.

In November 2001, HUPD located a man in Boca Raton, Fla. who had allegedly been making harassing phone calls for two years to Harvard female undergraduates. After the “serial whisperer” was identified, inappropriate calls to female students declined dramatically, but consistent reports of harassment continue.

And earlier this year, students were plagued by a wave of unsolicited calls from telemarketers hawking credit cards.

While students rarely use their room land-line phones, they are required for safety purposes to keep either the provided red phones connected, or to have a replacement phone connected at all times, according to University Information Systems Director of Telecommunications Nancy Kinchla.

And as the phone numbers for these telephones become publicly available on the Internet, these problems may become more prevalent.

THE VAULTS OF 20 GARDEN ST.