Online Quiz As a Gateway to P2P

Andy Guess points out an interesting approach taken by a Missouri university to limiting (and limiting legal exposure because of) on-campus, on-line copyright violations, as described at Inside Higher Ed: "In order to download (or upload) files on any peer-to-peer network whatsoever, all on-campus users at Missouri S&T have to pass an online quiz on copyright infringement. But not just once. Passing the test — with a perfect score — enables peer-to-peer access for six hours on the user's on-campus registered machines."

Yeah, everyone will answer that quiz honestly.

[grub]

Test software: Hello Mr. Manson, 1) Is murder legal?
Charles Manson: no

Test software: 2) Is murder bad?
Charles Manson: yes

Test software: 3) Would you feel bad if you murdered someone?
Charles Manson: yes

Test software: 4) Do you presently feel like murdering?
Charles Manson: no

Test software: 5) murder, Murder, MURDER!!!
Charles Manson: no, No, NO!!!

Test software: Congratulations, you have scored 100%. You now have 6 hours of access to the cutlery drawer.

Re:

[dunezone]

Why are you being modded funny? This should go under informative or at the least interesting.

Re:Yeah, everyone will answer that quiz honestly.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are you being modded funny?

I think it has something to with the fact that those of us who aren't bordering on autism laughed when we read it.

Re:

[gardyloo]

Definitely, definitely.

Re:

[jonaskoelker]

Definitely insightful. Def-def-definitely insightful.

Re:

[AK Marc]

Informative? There is nothing informative about a fictional account. It conveys no facts. It gives no actual information. It may be interesting. It is funny. But it informs me of nothing.

Re:Yeah, everyone will answer that quiz honestly.

[hansraj]

I don't think the idea is to know the intent of the users. Like you humorously pointed out, that would make no sense. Upon trying to make sense of this policy, I could come up with the following possible explanation. Of course I might be mistake :-)

I suppose the motives (or rather hopes) are based on two ideas:

1) By making the system inconvenient (even mildly so), discourages the "casual" p2p users. I have no idea what fraction of users are "casual" though.

2) Cognitive dissonance. Probably the idea is that once the users are forced to repeat certain beliefs in their head (even when they disagree with them), many will actually feel a psychological dissonance simply because the reward is not too great. One way to get rid of it, would be to actually start believing whatever they replied in the questionnaire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance#Induced_compliance_studies [wikipedia.org]

Of course cognitive dissonance does not seem to be the perfect phenomenon in use here, I wouldn't be surprised if something very similar was going on. Any psychologists in the house today?

Re:Yeah, everyone will answer that quiz honestly.

[veganboyjosh]

I didn't get the cognitive dissonance angle at all from this. I figured it's more like one of those waivers you have to sign at things like rock climbing gyms, or high risk activities, where you don't just sign your name at the end of a stack of papers, but you initial every paragraph. I've even seen one where I had to rewrite by hand an entire paragraph about how I wouldn't sue the place if I got injured, etc.

If they include this quiz, and only allow users who score 100%, then maybe the network can't be held responsible for copyright infringement, since they've screened for users who don't know what's off limits.

Re:

[hansraj]

If they include this quiz, and only allow users who score 100%, then maybe the network can't be held responsible for copyright infringement, since they've screened for users who don't know what's off limits.

I suppose this definitely makes sense, and would be a a much simpler explanation compared to psychological dissonance! :-)

Re:Yeah, everyone will answer that quiz honestly.

[cp.tar]

So how did "Click here if you're over 18, we can't allow access to kids" cognitive dissonance work?
A blazing success, I hear.

Re:Yeah, everyone will answer that quiz honestly.

[Tanktalus]

I clicked those all the time when I was 17. After a year of doing this, I started actually believe I was 18. Even fooled my parents into thinking so!

Re:

[BarryJacobsen]

I clicked those all the time when I was 17. After a year of doing this, I started actually believe I was 18. Even fooled my parents into thinking so!

I'm always amazed at what people can accomplish with the power of the mind. Were you able to keep them fooled for long, or did they stop believing you were 18 after a few season changes?

Re:

[i_b_don]

he was only able to keep them convinced for around 12 months....

d

Other possibilities.

[jd]

It could be a capcha-like concept, whereby it's not something that can be automatically joined but requires actual human intervention. It could be a damage limitation exercise - copyright violations can't be indefinite, but are constrained by the access time. Depending on how it's done, it could be a familiarization/educational exercise in teaching students how to distinguish between fair use and copyright infringement. (Bear in mind that "fair use" at an educational facility is often not the same as "fair

Re:

[bane2571]

Two valid points,but I'd be leaning more towards:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mens_rea [wikipedia.org]
Computer: "is piracy illegal?"
Student: "Yes"
Faculty: "You deliberately did something illegal!"

Re:

[RaceCarDriver]

But the person knew the correct answers. Hard to claim ignorance...

Then just claim insanity!

Question 1

[cjb658]

True or false: Copyright infringement is stealing?

Guess I'd fail. :)

And I love the illogic applied by them.

[khasim]

From TFA:

"Based on the amount of grumbling it's actually working pretty well," Lutzen said.

Are they referring to an increase in complaints or a reduction?

I have taken many tests and I have found that getting a perfect score is not so much about knowing the material as about knowing the expectations of the person who wrote the test.

True or false: Copyright infringement is stealing?

The answer would vary depending upon how well the person "grading" the test understood "stealing" and "copyright infringement" and your local, state and national laws.

Re:

[Penguinisto]

I have taken many tests and I have found that getting a perfect score is not so much about knowing the material as about knowing the expectations of the person who wrote the test.

For some odd reason, my experiences with the MCSE tests for Windows 2000 come to mind (e.g. chanting: "The Gospel According to Bill" allowed me to easily pass all of the Win2k ones on the first go - in spite of the massive suspense of disbelief required to do it).

/P

Re:And I love the illogic applied by them.

[interstellar_donkey]

One was along the lines of Q: Downloading software is A: okay/bad.

And that's what makes this so silly. Downloading software is usually just fine. It's knowingly downloading applications that you don't have permission/license to run on your computer is bad. Yet, for many people any time an application is downloaded off the Internet, it's bad (be it for copywrite infringement, fear of viruses, whatever).

There's just this blanket fear of software that doesn't come off a CD-Rom that demonstrates the ignorance of so many people, including, sadly, system administrators.

In the same tone, there's this blanket view of P2P that it's all bad. Now, I won't argue that much, if not most of p2p traffic isn't to share copywrited materials. But there's still enough legitimate traffic to make it a protocol worth keeping around. If there wasn't such a negitive connotation with P3P, a heck of a lot of bandwidth could be saved on the corporate end (imagine using torrents to distribute television programs offered for free viewing from a major television network)

Re:

[GryMor]

Really? Or perhaps your a developer allowed to use software under certain (pre cleared) licenses and incorporate source from software under a subset of those licenses in your projects.

Re:Question 1

[Darkness404]

Exactly, these questions that will surely be asked on the test will try to make it seem like copyright infringement is stealing as much as 2+2=4 rather then asking a moral question that can be taken either way. I am surprised to see that whenever a professor expresses views that might be objectionable the media attacks them, but with "piracy" they seem to make it seem like it is stealing when it clearly is not.

If the question is why is stealing bad, the answer would be that the person being stolen from doesn't have what got stolen. For example if someone stole your car, the bad part wouldn't be that someone has a new car but rather you don't have a car. With piracy though its the opposite, for downloading a song no one has any less songs as they can be copied and you have a new song, the RIAA seem to punish the fact you have a new song rather then the infinite supply of songs is running out. This seems to beg the question, if we can ever create a replicator that will make a perfect copy of things without doing any harm to the original will making a new item be called stealing? Because, has history is showing us, in a way that already has happened just with music and not physical goods.

Re:

[Anonymous Psychopath]

That argument only makes sense in the context of every content creator (note that I did not say distributor) subscribes to the same principals and personal philosophy that you do. Which is a pretty arrogant assumption.

Illegal is defined by the law.

Immoral is defined by society.

Lots of interesting things happen when these two get confused. The US government, for example, doesn't generally understand that there's a difference. Something can be legal while being immoral, and vice-versa. I think that your argum

Re:

[lastchance_000]

I would disagree, albeit slightly.

Illegal is defined by society via the law.

Immoral is defined by the individual.

I would agree that there is a distinction that is lost on many.

Re:Question 1

[susano_otter]

When you exercise a privilege to which you are not entitled, you negate the value of the privilege for those who are entitled to it.

Law, and custom, dicate that the creator of an artistic work is entitled to the privilege of sole distribution rights to that work, and sole rights to profit from the distribution of that work. When you appropriate that work without their permission, they no longer have the privilege granted to them by law. You are, in fact, taking something away from them.

Re:Question 1

[orclevegam]

When you appropriate that work without their permission, they no longer have the privilege granted to them by law. You are, in fact, taking something away from them.

Which is of course an illegal act with a specific name of copyright infringement. It is not stealing as that applies to physical goods. Depriving a person of a right is not stealing that right from them as by definition it's impossible to "steal" a right. Normally I wouldn't argue semantics, but in this case it's a valid point because of the extreme social stigma attached to theft. I don't think anyone is arguing over the legality of copyright infringement (or stealing for that matter), what's under question however is the morality of it. Even more to the point, is the question of whether all copyright infringement is immoral, or only some, or only in certain quantities. Would downloading a copy of last weeks sitcoms because you were busy and missed seeing them carry the same weight as downloading a couple CDs because you want to listen to them? What about downloading an artists entire library? Is it less moral to download an independent artist CDs versus those of a major record label?

Stealing...

[Aero Leviathan]

I bet you raise as much fuss about the phrase 'identity theft', don't you?

Re:

[sumdumass]

That's right. When you download a song or program against the copyright owners wished, you aren't taking the song or program from them, you are taking the rights the law gives them from them. More appearently, the right to make money of their investment of time and effort or the investment of funding someone else's time and effort.

Downloading without the copyright holders permission removes the opportunity to make money or profit in whatever way over anyone who wants access to the copyright protected materi

Re:

[Em Adespoton]

This is a very simplified argument: copyright isn't just about making money. It is possible someone has produced something they don't want anyone else to see/hear.

Copyright is about protecting the artist against exploitation in exchange for enriching society. I think what is causing problems now is that many people feel that the artists are all being exploited anyway and society isn't being enriched.

Copyright is not about allowing the creator of a work to force scarcity on a market thereby creating larger

Re:

[sumdumass]

This is a very simplified argument: copyright isn't just about making money. It is possible someone has produced something they don't want anyone else to see/hear.

True but this adds value to whatever the copyright holder is protecting. Value can be measured in many ways other then monetary value too. In the sense of the RIAAs and so on, it is much about money though.

Copyright is about protecting the artist against exploitation in exchange for enriching society. I think what is causing problems now is th

Re:

[tepples]

Law, and custom, dicate that the creator of an artistic work is entitled to the privilege of sole distribution rights to that work, and sole rights to profit from the distribution of that work.

How would I contact the Shakespeare estate?

Re:

[dissy]

Law, and custom, dicate that the creator of an artistic work is entitled to the privilege of sole distribution rights to that work, and sole rights to profit from the distribution of that work. When you appropriate that work without their permission, they no longer have the privilege granted to them by law. You are, in fact, taking something away from them.

And this university is doing exactly that. Appropriating my work and taking the privilege granted to me by law, to choose what license i distribute my music in. They have taken it upon them selfs to tell others a lie, that downloading my music is illegal, when in fact it is under an open license and free for anyone to download.

That is my right as defined by copyright law. Why do you think this university has the right to redefine my copyrighted works license?

In conclusion, I 100% agree with you, this un

Re:

[multisync]

I'd go along with questions along these lines:

1. True or false: copyright should expire after a reasonable period of time, say 10 years.

2. True or false: in order for copyright to achieve its stated mandate of promoting the advancement of science and the useful arts, it is important to balance the protection given to copyright holders with strong fair use rights for the public.

3. True or false: non-commercial distribution of orphaned works, or works for which the copyright holder is unknown, should be consi

Are there ways around it?

[The Ancients]

How long before some smart kids come up with a script to automatically complete the quiz? (and possibly sell it to fellow students)

Re:

[CogDissident]

Encrypt your traffic, done.

Re:

[gd2shoe]

Excuse me? Since it is unencrypted at the client end, this is still almost trivial to write. The only difference is that it would need to go through stunnel or the like.

(Note that I don't know their exact design, but I suspect it is very easy to automate, unless they include a captcha.)

Re:

[SanityInAnarchy]

I'm guessing that could also have been meant as another "way around it" -- encrypt your P2P traffic, and they can't block it.

Re:

[FLEB]

What, fill in all the true-false answers with Qs and Ns?

Re:Are there ways around it?

[Shagg]

Not long. Do you want a copy?

Re:Are there ways around it?

[Kaenneth]

They might sell it to a couple students, but then those student would give it to their friends for free.

Re:Are there ways around it?

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Yeah but then those students would upload the script on P2P to give to their friends, but the friends need the script to access P2P, which contains the script needed to access P2P, which is needed to access P2P...

I'm so confused now...

Re:

[geekoid]

naw, you can still buy 'pre written notes'. sure some people may give them away, but enough by them to keep people profitable.

Same thing with this.

We need a V-K test

[Erandir]

Yes, we need a more sophisticated test, one measuring true underlying intention. I can imagine it going like this:

Holden: You start up DC and notice that copyrighted files are being shared, Leon.
Leon: Do you make up these questions, Prof Holden? Or do they write 'em down for you?
Holden: The files are being shared, and other students are rapidly downloading them. We can't stop them without your help. But you're not helping.
Leon: WHAT DO YOU MEAN, I'M NOT HELPING?
Holden: I mean you're not helping! Why is that, Leon?
[Leon has become visibly shaken]
Holden: They're just questions, Leon. In answer to your query they're written down for me. It's a test, designed to provoke an emotional response. (pause) Shall we continue?

48 hours.

[SanityInAnarchy]

You get a total of 8 activations, each of which gives you six hours of use. So if you did write such a script, you'd have no "p2p access" after two days.

No, my question is, how long till students either revolt or go somewhere else? More importantly, is this a university which can afford to lose their CS department? (Do they have one to begin with? I don't know, just asking...)

Script it!

[eln]

So how many seconds will it take for someone to write a script to automatically take this quiz for you every 6 hours?

Re:

[mckorr]

And of course said script will be the first thing shared P2P...

Re:

[eln]

So I should make sure I get a good list of porn torrents before taking the quiz, so as not to waste any of the precious little time I get.

As for your little suggestion to "RTFA", you must be new here. I have an allergy to articles posted on Slashdot. Reading them gives me hives or, in this case, uncontrollable blind rage. So you see, it's best for everyone if I avoid reading them.

Re:

[orclevegam]

The main point is that someone who passes this test either knows that it's illegal to share copyrighted materials that they aren't licensed to share or they have gone through some effort to remain ignorant, which would lead one to believe that they know that they are doing is wrong and want to remain ignorant about the details.

Wrong is a moral call and as such up to the individual. Illegal yes, wrong, not necessarily. This is also ignoring the fact that there are lots of perfectly legal uses for P2P.

Proof once again...

[sm62704]

Education is no substitute for intelligence, as people who run institutions of higher education are usually well educated.

Of course, if I saw a check from the RIAA's bank made out to the university President, I'd have a higher opinion of the intelligence of the people running Missouri U.

Re:

[JK_the_Slacker]

For the first and last time, this is not the University of Missouri! It's the Missouri University of Science and Technology. It's like people think we're so backwards here that we only have one university or college! Seriously! I can name ten universities within a 30 mile radius, and I don't live in St. Louis or Kansas City (yes, those are in Missouri, not Illinois or Kansas.) RTFS, people!

Re:

[level_headed_midwest]

The Missouri University of Science and Technology is simply the new name for the University of Missouri-Rolla. The University of Missouri with the capital T in "the" is in Columbia and it used to be called the University of Missouri-Columbia.

You just have to love politically-motivated name changes...

How pointless....

[Darkness404]

How pointless is this? First off, people need to know that P2P != Illegal. Seriously, because I can download ROMs and other copyrighted work easily over HTTP should that be banned too? I can download others via FTP. I can download still others over various chat programs. The fact that P2P can allow you to easily download files quicker with less cost then with HTTP suddenly makes this technology "evil"? And before anyone says "Oh but most people download illegal things via P2P!!!", how many more illegal things do people download via HTTP? Im guessing a lot more, with "pirated" YouTube music videos being posted all the time (yet thankfully the RIAA isn't suing the users of YouTube... yet) And also, has anyone tried to download Linux ISOs of a popular distro a day to a few weeks after release via HTTP? You are lucky to get 30 KB/Second whereas with P2P you can top 200 KB/Second easily.

Re:

[CynicTheHedgehog]

Well it does serve to educate the student about copyright infringement and prove that the student is fully aware of the consequences of his actions in the event that he does engage in piracy. This could be a move to limit the school's liability in civil suits involving its students. If the school forces the students to continually and consistently demonstrate that they understand what copyright infringement is, then the school wouldn't necessarily be liable for the actions of its students. (I hesitate to

Re:

[orclevegam]

I don't think it's about proving anything, although that's clearly a side benefit, rather I think it's about nagging the crap out of the students to try to discourage all P2P usage. As in most things of this nature, it's a minor annoyance, just a speed-bump on the internet, and easily bypassed, but it will seriously discourage the technically inept. The university is probably also considering the savings they can theoretically get on bandwidth usage I imagine as well, although whether any such savings would

Licenses for dangerous goods

[CustomDesigned]

If I decide to buy a pocketknife to go camping with should I have to pass a quiz about all the dangers I can do by using a pocketknife?

No, but you do have to pass a quiz to get a drivers license, or fishing license, or hunting license (or to buy a gun). You have to pass a rather extensive quiz to fly an airplane or practice medicine publicly.

So is P2P a knife or a gun? Well, if HTTP is walking, then I would put P2P as a bicycle, but definitely not an automobile. Persecution of protocols is ridiculous anyway. P2P clients will just have to have a library of protocol plugins, and keep trying them (and port variations) until they find one

48 hours a month

[Anonymous Coward]

Passing the test -- with a perfect score -- enables peer-to-peer access for six hours on the user's on-campus registered machines, presumably enough time to download that (legal) song, TV show or e-book. The next time, the student, staff or faculty member has to go to the intranet Web page and take the randomized test again, for a maximum of eight uses per month (which, kind of like vacation days, can accrue to at most 20).

So basically, their students can access the internet for 48 hours a month. Sounds great.

Re:48 hours a month

[Tenebrousedge]

That sound you heard was 1500 students going to another university this fall.

Re:48 hours a month

[orclevegam]

I imagine most of the CS department would bail. You'd be left with the two ends of the bell curve though. On the one side you'd have the ones so technically inept that the loss of a major chunk of the internet wouldn't even register on them. On the other end you'd have the ones who've already setup encrypted tunnels out of the schools network and are completely un-constrained by anything the school could possibly do short of physically cutting their network (or killing any encrypted traffic, but that would negate any secure web browsing). It's fairly simple to bounce a port through SSH running on 443, although it does eat up bandwidth on a server somewhere. You could also encrypt the P2P traffic without proxying the connection, but that's a good bit simpler to detect (unlike using a port 443 proxy where there's only 2 ways of detecting it, decrypt the stream, or fingerprint the remote server).

Re:

[SanityInAnarchy]

Either they'd be left with close to zero students who care about the Internet -- there goes their CS department -- or they're going to have a few very expensive students who find ways around it.

Either way, it's also going to be the loss of a hell of a lot of intelligent people. You want to select out the morons, not the other way around. Doing it this way will eventually come back to bite them in the ass.

What a lost opportunity

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

all on-campus users at Missouri S&T have to pass an online quiz on copyright infringement

If I headed this university, I'd make my students take quizzes on math, chemistry, physics and whatever else the university teaches, to get access to P2P. I mean, if they want their music bad enough, they'd have a great incentive to do well at school.

But quizzes on copyright infringement? talk about brainwashing. As if they had nothing more productive to cram their brains with. Sheesh... On top of it, it's a trap: if a student is caught downloading illegal material, he can't claim ignorance.

All in all, a rotten idea that could have been a great one. You can feel the twisted minds of **AA execs behind this sorry scheme...

Re:and in 2 years..

[denis-The-menace]

And in 2 years the quiz will ask student to enter the name of one or more criminals "stealing" music/movies.

Police State U: turning in a friend, today!

Re:

[geekoid]

Hmm the amount of bandwidth is determined by your GPA. heh.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

On top of it, it's a trap: if a student is caught downloading illegal material, he can't claim ignorance.

That is the point, and they would not achieve it with math, chemistry or whatever quizzes. I wonder how long it will take before someone complains about the one-sidedness of the quiz though: If you're going to cover copyright law, shouldn't that include the various exceptions and the rights of people who are prosecuted for p2p copyright violations with dubious evidence?

Re:

[Em Adespoton]

Everyone's judging this scheme without finding out what the quiz actually *is*.

Maybe it's the following:

1) Do you, or any of your family members or acquaintences work for the RIAA or associated companies or organizations?

2) Is P2P filesharying synonymous with copyright infringement?

3) Are there exemptions under copyright law for educational use of data?

4) Is "making available" punishable under copyright law?

4) Please select from the list below the name of a college lawyer who would defend you against a friv

Faculty too...

[Roger W Moore]

If I headed this university, I'd make my students take quizzes on math, chemistry, physics and whatever else the university teaches,...

What's more they seem to apply this to all online users including faculty. Apart from the limitations on research (particularly if P2P is adapted for Grid computing-based file transfers) this displays a complete lack of trust in their faculty. With an administration like that I imagine attracting and retaining good faculty will be incredibly hard/impossible (why go there when you can go somewhere they trust you to act responsibly?) so the result will likely have a negative impact on student education.

test eh?

[geekoid]

Let's see this 'test'
Is it a test of the specific actual copyright law? Os it some thing put together by someone who thinks they know copyright law?

I would love to see a copyright attorney go over the test. One that isn't employed by a media company.

Every 6 hours is just stupid.

Re:test eh?

[cjb658]

I've got a better idea: let's require everyone to pass a test before using the internet at all.

(brb, selling MySpace stock)

Re:

[Archangel Michael]

NYCL to the rescue?

Re:test eh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's an actual test I was presented with. I'm a Missouri S&T student.

Some files shared on Peer-to-Peer networks are actually viruses

        * False
        * True

Do you intend to infringe copyright?
        * Yes
        * No

If a student receives a first DMCA violation notice he/she will lose network access for a minimum of
        * 14 calendar days
        * None of these
        * All of these
        * Until he/she passes the "Safe and Legal Computing" course

What is the difference between copying a friend's CD and downloading music?
        * It is only legal to copy a friend's CD
        * It is legal to download the song
        * They are both legal
        * They are both illegal

Do you agree to abide by the Acceptable Usage Policy?
        * No
        * Yes

Copyright protection lasts for:
        * 14 years
        * Life of the creator
        * 25 years
        * Life of the creator plus 70 years

Chastity Bono Act

[tepples]

Copyright protection lasts for:
* 14 years
* Life of the creator
* 25 years
* Life of the creator plus 70 years

Do we get to hack their server after the Chastity Bono Act becomes law in the late 2010s?

Re:Chastity Bono Act?

[themushroom]

Everyone will be a fat lesbian with a famously MILFy mom?

Explained

[tepples]

Everyone will be a fat lesbian with a famously MILFy mom?

Joke fails it.

The Chastity Bono Act is the name that I have always used to refer to the sequel to the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 (aka the Sonny Bono Act). Some analysts interpret the Supreme Court's upholding of the CTEA in Eldred v. Ashcroft (2003) as giving Congress a blank check to extend copyright terms right when copyright in works first published in the 1920s is about to expire. This hypothetical bill would extend the U.S. copyright term by 30 additional years, to the life of the last

Re:

[rfunches]

After seeing questions like "Do you intend to infringe copyright?" and "Do you agree to abide by the Acceptable Usage Policy?" I'm glad that an online test cannot monitor your sweat ducts [slashdot.org] through your mouse or keyboard.

Re:test eh?

[SMS_Design]

Funny how question #4 doesn't differentiate between open/free music and commercial record-label music. The answer could be either C or D.

Well, I suppose it could be A or B depending on weird screwed-up license terms.

Re:

[noidentity]

They left out a few options on these questions:

What is the difference between copying a friend's CD and downloading music?

• It is only legal to copy a friend's CD
• It is legal to download the song
• They are both legal
• They are both illegal
• Downloading it is easier

Copyright protection lasts for:

• 14 years
• Life of the creator
• 25 years
• Life of the creator plus 70 years
• An ever-increasing time, approximately current date - 1923

Re:

[FLEB]

Same for "Copying a CD", for that matter. Even if you were to toe the party line, though, it still wouldn't work-- "They are both illegal" doesn't highlight a difference.

Re:test eh?

[compro01]

further stupid is that the test can only be taken 8 times a month. 48 hours of access monthly...

Re:

[compro01]

unless i'm mistaken, you have to register the MAC address to even access the network, which shoots down that plan.

Once upon a time...

[hyades1]

There was a time when university campuses were bastions of free thought and conscience. Of course, the administrations were usually composed of the worst variety pedantic, bum-kissing bureaucrat the academic version of Social Darwinism could produce.

I'm not sure about free thought and conscience anymore, but the administration part seems to be just about the same.

Re:

[Kijori]

There was a time when university campuses were bastions of free thought and conscience.

This isn't an issue of free thought, it's an issue of free movies, TV programs and music. Universities are places for discussion, discourse and intellectual and academic study. They don't exist to protect students who break a law that they are well aware of. This is in the same vein as the speech that every university student gets at the start of their course - the one that starts "The university doesn't condone...". The university doesn't want to be held responsible for the actions of students who repeate

Re:

[assassinator42]

It's more an issue of free speech and stifling access to new technologies. This is limiting the time people are allowed to use peer to peer communication for legal purposes (since using it for illegal purposes is supposed to be banned). The 6 hours thing also hinders seeding or other forms of uploading, the whole point of peer to peer networks.

Re:

[hyades1]

Um, did I say they were? Perhaps you're experiencing of one of those LSD "flashbacks". Seeing things that aren't there and all.

Sorry.

Better idea

[iamacat]

Just require a capcha to download a file. Will stop P2P police on its tracks while not posing much of an inconvenience to users.

Re:

[iamacat]

C) schools recommends use of modified P2P software that requires others to enter a capcha before downloading from a student, to make automatic witch hunts prohibitively expensive.

What I want to know is...

[zappepcs]

Will they keep a log of the wrong and creative answers?

I'd like to see some collegiate level essays on the question of whether file sharing is legal or not.

I'm sure this would prove rather elucidating for a lot of people.

I'm really interested in the creative answer essays from those in the law programs.

hmmmmmm

Max eight uses per month and who picks what is 2p2

[Joe The Dragon]

Max eight uses per month and who picks what is a 2p2 app?

What if the quiz system is down and some needs something for class right now?

Do you have retake the test if you need the network in Class? in lab? what if for class you need more then 8 times? Are the it staff under the same limits?

Parts of the windows update system act like p2p networking and M$ is working on a p2p update systems as well. It will be very bad if some update system get blocked by this?

Re:Max eight uses per month and who picks what is

[Mister Whirly]

Windows Update is not P2P - it is your computer directly contacting a central server for downloads. I can't think of any college who uses P2P apps for tests or classroom materials. If you RTFA, you will notice it only blocks P2P applications (Limewire, Kazaa, eMule, etc.), not the entire network.

Re:

[tepples]

The article is light on details, so I'll base my best guesses on what I already know about the policies of the two postsecondary schools that I have attended:

and who picks what is a 2p2 app?

I would imagine that if it involves an incoming connection on a port and protocol that the school's IT department has not whitelisted, it is blocked.

What if the quiz system is down and some needs something for class right now?

I would imagine that one would sign a form to obtain permission from the IT department to use a computer in the IT department's laboratory under supervision of an IT department employee.

Parts of the windows update system act like p2p networking

I would imagine

Wrong tag

[nurb432]

This should at least be under ' its funny.. '

Its just stupid.

As a Missouri S&T student...

[Anonymous Coward]

As a student at Missouri S&T, there are a few things I didn't see in the article.

* Several of the questions use double negatives so you really have to stop and think about what a True/False question is really asking.

* If you don't get a perfect score, you have to wait two minutes before you can retake the test. And the questions are different each time. Sometimes the double negatives have been removed causing you to trip on the same question twice, just because it looked very similar to the one asked two minutes earlier.

Also, I wasted two of my six P2P sessions just trying to get my client set up to jump through all their hoops.

misguided nannying

[drDugan]

Google hit #1 for "Missouri University copyright quiz"
is
From http://mizzouit.missouri.edu/security/dmca-quiz.html [missouri.edu]

which states:

"If you have downloaded copyright-protected files without paying for them then, quite simply, you have broken the law."

No, quite simply, that statement is bullshit as well as many other statements on that page. It is under-informed fear mongering and spreading the big-media meme that downloading and sharing is somehow bad.

There are many options (including our site) for people who own copyrights to distribute creative works, get financial sponsorship, or distribute their works for free if they choose to - and furthermore to allow others to distribute their works for them if they license their work in away to enable it. While these issues (downloading, payment, redistribution, illegal actions) are all closely connected to the copyright on the content, making such a blanket statement is irresponsible.

Paying for content rarely enables sharing today. It is the *licensing* and the actual laws are the important part for users to understand when they download or redistribute content. People need to read and understand the licenses and the law to know if they are breaking them.

Re:

[cavePrisoner]

Another quote from the link in parent: "Many people would never dream of walking into a store and stealing a CD or a DVD. Why? Because it's against the law. " I can't speak for anybody else, but I don't steal a physical CD or DVD because stealing is immoral. I am depriving the store owner of what is rightfully his. I don't care about the law. If something is illegal but moral, the law should be disregarded. I'm not depriving anybody of anything when I copy a sequence of bits, (assuming I would not h

Next stop:

[Kissing Crimson]

In order to access the buildings that hold Philosophy, Biology, Archeology, Anthropology, or Sociology, a student must first pass a test regarding Theory vs Fact. Those who pass the test with a perfect score are allowed to attend one class session. This system has reduced complaints from supporters of Intelligent Design theories. Naturally there has been some 'grumbling' from supporters of Darwinian Theory. Overall the administration feels this method works.

Catch 22

[Hoplite3]

This reminds me of "The Great Loyalty Oath Crusade" in Catch 22, where all of the pilots had to sign a loyalty oath to the USA at each meal, before each briefing, before take-off, and so on.

Yosarian points out that all that signing makes the oath meaningless. No one reads it or considers it, they do it like they wipe their nose. Catch 22 has a lot to teach us.

Even if I believed in intellectual property (which I don't), I would think this was a silly thing.

A sample quiz

[dark42]

Taken from https://itweb.mst.edu/~p2preq [mst.edu] (I am a student at S&T)

Question 1 The copyright holder can still sue after filing a DMCA violation notice.
True
False
Question 2 What can be protected by copyright?
Creative works in tangible form
Ideas
None of these
Facts
All of these
Question 3 Do you disagree

Re:

[assassinator42]

That quiz is horribly designed. "All of these" includes "None of these", thus creating a paradox if that answer is chosen (although that's not the right answer anyway, so maybe that's just a hint). And I suppose it will say you fail if you indicate you don't agree with the AUP? I could certainly disagree with it but choose to follow it anyway. And the DMCA was created to make it illegal for people to share (some) information on the internet (or anywhere else).
I don't go to MST and my university doesn't blo

Racial Profiling

[SLOviper]

We just need to start linking "traffic shaping" to racial profiling. In effect, the two are not that different. Just because "you" (the airline security guy or the ISP) think that person/packet X is more likely to "cause trouble" doesn't mean that they/it should be treated differently. Let's get some good ol' negative connotations attached to this issue and get the non-nerds amongst us to understand that these practices are bad for everyone.

Expect top rates from Missouri S&T

[unity100]

anything for pr0n. even studying your ass to hell in your freshman year.

Mail them your thoughts.

[fluffdesu]

As a student and actually fighting against the 15GB quota per day on my personal internet access, I thought myself lucky for a while and wrote Missouri U an email thanking them for being so infernally mad to implement such censorship.

"Hi,

My name is Antoine Nilsson and I live in Sweden (Europe, No, Sweden is not same country as Switzerland).
As you might know, Sweden has different copyright laws, including one that allows us to share our bought music. Therefore I wonder, if I send music that I have bough

Re:

[pimpimpim]

It says that you can do illegal things as long as you pay up (in this case you pay your time to do the quiz). Though of course not per se morally supportable, but at least it resembles reality.