[plug] Logging of email

[Steve Grasso]

>We are contemplating giving email access to students however we would
>initially want to log all email traffic to ensure that the privledge isn't
>being "abused".  I was wondering how we might go about logging all the
>emails.  We are using Sendmail on a RH 5.2 box as our gateway and MTA.

IMO you're seeking a technical solution to what is essentially a people
problem. If email is provided to students, I assume the college would be
doing so on the basis that it fundamentally trusts the students to do the
right thing. Presumably the college has a written policy, or charter
concerning internet/email use and the responsibilities that staff and
students have for using facilities in an ethical, legal and responsible
way. If students, and their primary care givers, gave jointly read and
given written assent to such a charter I would like to think it unlikely
that any but a very small few would abuse the priviledge. My own experience
is that the activities of those small few are noticed by their peers and or
staff responsible for them, and it is at that level attention should be
drawn to the charter they agreed to, or their priviledges suspended. This
puts the onus back on the students to do the right thing, and staff to do
their job, leaving the poor old Sys Ad free from the imposition of having
to act acting as the Net Nazi

Just a suggestion.

If you're intent on, or forced into snooping, Sniffit can be configured to
do the deed (you'll have to wade through a bit of dross, and weather the
flak when people learn of it but)

You could also tart up a perl script to filter incoming/outgoing emails
according to selected keywords, though this would have a developmental and
operational overhead.

CU
Steve