Spring Break
ISU blocks illegal peer-to-peer file sharing
Joanna Pelletier, Daily Vidette Staff Writer
Issue date: 8/27/08 Section: News
Despite the repercussions of downloading media via illegal peer-to-peer applications, over 90 percent of ISU students who lived on-campus during the 2007- 2008 school year used P2P software.
The high volume of file sharing in the residence halls has led to a recent restriction of p2p applications on all of ISU's on-campus networks.
According to Mark Walbert, associate vice president of Academic Information Technology, 42 percent of the file sharing that occurred throughout campus last year was used for movies, while the remaining 58 percent was used for games and music. "We receive 130 DMCA [Digital Millennium Copyright Act] complaints per month...if we get a DMCA compliant, it means you were infringing someone's copyright," Walbert said.
ISU has also enacted other efforts like the Digital Citizens Project and bandwidth management to monitor its on-campus network and educate students about violating copyright laws.
"I wouldn't do it [share files illegally] if the charges were more reasonable," Erik Christiansen, junior business teacher education major, said when referring to Amazon, iTunes and Napster.
Christiansen went on to say that he would be interested in using a legal ISU service if its prices catered to a student's budget.
In response to the Higher Education Authorization Act, and in an effort to limit the number of DMCA complaints placed against ISU students, the University has launched a comprehensive Website called BirdTrax, which provides a list of legal alternatives for students.
According to David Greenfield, director of Student Technology Support, ISU is the first university to come out with such a comprehensive list, making ISU a national leader in the effort to reduce illegal p2p file sharing on-campus.
"There are so many groups that this affects," Greenfield said. "We want students to give us feedback. We want people to tell us what their favorite site is so that we can continue in our evaluation."
For more information about BirdTrax, visit birdtrax.ilstu.edu.
The high volume of file sharing in the residence halls has led to a recent restriction of p2p applications on all of ISU's on-campus networks.
According to Mark Walbert, associate vice president of Academic Information Technology, 42 percent of the file sharing that occurred throughout campus last year was used for movies, while the remaining 58 percent was used for games and music. "We receive 130 DMCA [Digital Millennium Copyright Act] complaints per month...if we get a DMCA compliant, it means you were infringing someone's copyright," Walbert said.
ISU has also enacted other efforts like the Digital Citizens Project and bandwidth management to monitor its on-campus network and educate students about violating copyright laws.
"I wouldn't do it [share files illegally] if the charges were more reasonable," Erik Christiansen, junior business teacher education major, said when referring to Amazon, iTunes and Napster.
Christiansen went on to say that he would be interested in using a legal ISU service if its prices catered to a student's budget.
In response to the Higher Education Authorization Act, and in an effort to limit the number of DMCA complaints placed against ISU students, the University has launched a comprehensive Website called BirdTrax, which provides a list of legal alternatives for students.
According to David Greenfield, director of Student Technology Support, ISU is the first university to come out with such a comprehensive list, making ISU a national leader in the effort to reduce illegal p2p file sharing on-campus.
"There are so many groups that this affects," Greenfield said. "We want students to give us feedback. We want people to tell us what their favorite site is so that we can continue in our evaluation."
For more information about BirdTrax, visit birdtrax.ilstu.edu.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Jason Smith
posted 9/11/08 @ 10:29 AM CST
Hey ISU,
I've seen people in Milner library illegally making copies of books. Time to shut down the library!
btw your birdtrax site is down, not that anyone uses it. (Continued…)
Ronny Rogers
posted 11/07/08 @ 10:48 PM CST
I hate it when institutions force you to use proxies, they're so damn irritating. And ilstu's web design (icampus and blackboard in particular) is among the worst on the planet, they could take some pointers from http://havenworks. (Continued…)
BA
posted 11/24/08 @ 3:44 PM CST
ISU should take a page from Duke. They want actual evidence of copyright infringement before it forwards pre-litigation "settlement" letters to students. (Continued…)
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