An anonymous reader writes: A couple of friends of mine recently had their computers confiscated from a private computer lab (for specific students)by IT staff. This nameless university in the midwest has yet to resolve the problem. The reason the IT staff confiscated the computers was because they were connected(wired) to their network. Police became involved and now they have the computers, holding them as evidence even though they are not charged with anything. To me, this seems rather ridiculous in so many different ways (no written policy stating confiscation is allowed, etc.). Currently the IT staff is claiming that connecting the computers to the network was tampering with the network, which they say is a felony charge.
IT staff, sysadmins, students...What do you think? Is their claim legitimate, or is this an exxageration? What should be the course of action?