Schools to Avoid: University of Florida

Iphtashu Fitz writes "The University of Florida has apparently come up with a technological approach to deal with P2P file sharing on their campus networks. According to this article on wired.com they have developed a program that scans the PCs of students in the UF dorm rooms. The program, dubbed 'Icarus' not only detects P2P applications but viruses, worms, and other trojans. If a P2P application is found then an e-mail is sent to the user, a message is popped up on their screen, and their internet connection is disconnected. First time offenders lose their connection for 30 minutes. The second offense results in a 5 day loss. The third strike results in an indefinite loss of connectivity. An editorial in The Independent Florida Alligator, the student newspaper, called the use of Icarus 'an invasive and annoying system that further deters students from living in dorms (see also another story).'"

E-mail?

[Exiler]

Wow, what a wonderous world we live in where students can recieve e-mail when their internet connection is hosed *goes wide eyed*

Re:Anti-Intellectual Environment

[Anonymous Coward]

In other words, innocent until proven guilty

EXACTLY

Oh wait, the EXACT opposite.

spurrier

[Anonymous Coward]

place hasn't been the same since Steve Spurrier left.

Who named that sucker?

[RobertB-DC]

From the Wired article:
"We needed something to stem the flow. We were spending too much time tracking people down," said Robert Bird, supervisor of network services for the UF department of housing.

So a guy named Bird creates (read: has some overworked grad student create) a program called Icarus to "bring down" file sharers. I guess he imagined his program being like the sun melting the wax on the mythical Icarus' wings [wikipedia.org] and sending him crashing back to earth. And Bird himself, of course, would be the sun-wary Daedelus [wikipedia.org], who after trying out flight himself, hung up his wings as an offering to Apollo.

I guess he's now a flightless Bird. The old story about the ostrich sticking his head in the sand comes to mind.

Icarus

[mopslik]

The program, dubbed 'Icarus'

What are the odds that this program is running on a Sun machine?

Re:Hey Slashdotter!

[Surt]

Except ... I regularly use P2P network programs for academic purposes. Almost daily.

Re:Where's the beaf?

[Xerithane]

There are a certain class of people who dislike Peer-to-peer networking, and are trying to compare it with everything from copyright infringement to illegal pornography to terrorism to try and get rid of it.

I compare it to riding on the short bus.

Yeah, you may not be retarded but everybody else is. Chances are everyone thinks you are, too.

(Just like Slashdot)

Re:kick if RUNNING, not just having the software

[cybercrap]

Obviously you didn't learn how to spell in collEge.

"You've got trojans"

[Ilan Volow]

When the less technically-inclined students unfamiliar with geek lingo start getting e-mails informing them they have trojans, I can only imagine what kind of responses the IT department will get.

Are we surprised...? Are they...?

[khenson]

Historically the college campus has been the bastion of liberal mindsets. A mindset which is stereotypically supportive of relinquishing personal rights in favor of collective support.

(Translation: collective support = big brother).

Consider this learning venture to be "socio-economic repercussions 101" - when personal control is relinquished, culpability reassigned and/or positions of responsibility abdicated in favor of the security offered by those in authority we may find that those decisions created for the control and oversight of all are not as digestible as those which prompted us to adopt the mindset in the first place.

For those requiring a simpler explanation: The fox makes a great guardian for the henhouse - it just sucks when he starts eating the chickens you asked him to protect...