USC To Students: No Sharing Files 435
jukal writes: "copy-paste from a Wired article: 'Students at the University of Southern California could face a school year without computer access if they are busted swapping movies and music online. In an e-mail message to all students, school officials warned that using peer-to-peer file-trading services could force the university to kick students off the network. '"
Even if it's MY Music? (Score:3, Insightful)
Translation (Score:4, Insightful)
Good (Score:4, Insightful)
Hat's off to you, USC. Keep up the good work.
Even SMB filesharing? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Even if it's MY Music? (Score:4, Insightful)
Amazing, but that's how it'll work in the "real world" too, someday!
Just shape them (Score:3, Insightful)
[Cooper Union, NYC] My school already does that... (Score:4, Insightful)
What also sucks is that the UDP block also cuts down ICMP ECHO (aka "Ping") packets...it is a crying shame that an Electrical Engineering student at "one of the best engineering schools" cannot verify network response times!!
Let me add, however, that I understand the file-sharing thing...our pipe is just 3xT1, and they wouldn't want to bog it down with pr0n and mp3s.
Ideally, they would use Packeteer or some other program to prioritize non-file-sharing traffic and/or throttle bandwidth to and from "criminal" ports. The UDP/ICMP block, however, is inane.
But hey, in case you didn't know, the Cooper Union is the only 4-year private univ in the US that gives a full-tuition scholarship worth about $100k over four years to every student admitted!
I have only one thing to say.... (Score:1, Insightful)
Good.
music/movies or all files? (Score:2, Insightful)
It also doesn't say if intranet P2P is OK, or if they are just forbidding P2P to/from outside the university.
Of course the USC network admins know this directive is foolish. File sharing happens via IRC, FTP, HTTP, IM and many other forms, straight client-client as well as through various tunnels and gateways between P2P networks. It's not likely that they want to become police, either.
This directive serves the university only two ways (ok maybe three).
1) It gets the RIAA off their backs for a while.
2) It keeps the clueless from using P2P networks - only the clueful will know how to still share files at will, and they are less likely to get caught and spell trouble for the University.
3) It reduces the load on their network.
All three are temporary gains but they must think that's better than nothing. Once again we see somebody attacking the symptom (P2P) rather than the problem (stealing copyrighted works).
Re:Even if it's MY Music? (Score:4, Insightful)
That said, the campus also has a right to impose restrictions upon its tenants and contractees. However, we should have the right to refuse those terms. If they are going to change our contrat in the middle of the game, I should be able to declare it void and demand a refund of my payments. Otherwise, it is unfair.
Re:Good (Score:4, Insightful)
Slow down there. The article is light on details but it seems to me that the university is banning all P2P traffic, not just copyright-infringing traffic. You can insert the standard hyperbolic "But 99.9999% of P2P traffic is infringing" but it doesn't matter: They certainly do seem to be going after the technology, not the content.
OR... (Score:2, Insightful)
OR ...could force the smart students to develop an anonymous, encrypted filesharing system and squash the whole plan. woops! now what? maybe a better solution is just plain traffic-usage capping.
Re:They should have done this long ago (Score:0, Insightful)
Re:Even if it's MY Music? (Score:3, Insightful)
Why USC? (Score:4, Insightful)
No problem. (Score:3, Insightful)
If a student feels he/she must have p2p there are private ISP's out there who are willing to offer their services for a price. Most people in the real world do pay for their internet access.
There is no reason that a student should expect his/her school to sacrifice bandwidth or risk legal problems to support the student's habit.
Re:The actual email (Score:1, Insightful)
Wasn't there once a time when the purpose of an academic institution was to foster an enviornment in which its students could learn and grow and come up with ideas that would benefit the world? Now, they are just reduced to trying to make intelectual property? Has the world really become that greedy, short sited, and capitalistic that not even our schools are safe?
I can imagine a conversation at the university:
Dean: How much intelectual property has your class deveoloped this week?
Professor: I'm afraid they haven't come up with anything patentable or profitable.
Dean: They had better come up with something soon that we can use. Your tenure is riding on it!
Re:Good (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, this is the way we want piracy to be addressed, but its being addressed by the *wrong people*. It is not USC's responsibility to stop illegal activities over their lines any more than it is AT&T's responsibility to stop fraud over the phone lines, unless a warrant is involved. It is law enforcement's responsibility to stop activities of this sort. Imagine your local phone company started tapping your lines for no reason and overheard you talking about how fast you just went in your car and sent a police officer to go give you a ticket? This is exactly what's going on at USC. If they are served a warrant, then by all means, monitor the network, but only if they are served a warrant.
Re:Even if it's MY Music? (Score:2, Insightful)
responsibility (Score:3, Insightful)
Besides, who really needs that much online access. I got through university on dialup.
And thinking ahead, would you show up at work and download several gigs a day on Kaazaa?