From “the Equinox.”
The Recording Industry Association of America has cited 45 Keene State College students for illegally downloading music using the college’s Internet network.
Letters concerning the illegal downloads, the content of the downloads and which peer-to-peer networks were used in the process, were sent to the Information Technology Group at KSC.
“The RIAA is out looking for people who are doing this,” said Information Technology Manager Laura Seraichick.
According to Seraichick, last academic year only five KSC students were cited for illegal downloading, while over 45 have been cited in the first three weeks of the semester.
“To have this many right at the opening of the year is like ‘wow’,” said Seraichick.
Despite the citation, the 45 students were not downloading an extraordinarily large amount of music, according to Seraichick.
“A lot of it is just one song,” added Seraichick. “But it shouldn’t matter, it is illegal.”
One student, who would only speak to the Equinox on the condition of anonymity, was caught for illegal downloading and said she was alerted by the IT Group when her network access was shut off and a pop-up told her to go to the Help Desk.
When the source went to the Help Desk she said, “I know what I did and it’s not a big deal.”
The source was asked to sign a form stating she knew what she did, and would disable the downloading software from her computer before her network access was turned back on.
“I don’t think I have a right to doing it,” said the source. “It was just a wake up call.”
The student caught downloading said she feels the college should take more steps to stop these programs from being used on the network.
“If the school doesn’t want you to do it then block it,” said the source.
Seraichick said part of the problem is a combination of new students and downloading programs that are harder to detect.
After all this, the source said she’s learned her lesson, and advised, “Big Brother is watching, Keene knows what you’re doing.”
KSC is obligated as an institution to inform the student after the RIAA has sent a letter about a student’s action but ultimately the student is accountable, according to Seraichick.
The letters sent from the RIAA states, “Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, if you ignore this notice, your institution may also be liable for any resulting infringement.”
“We don’t want to be the police for the RIAA,” said Seraichick. “We are obligated to respond to these.”
KSC does have a three strike policy in place for dealing with illegal downloading on campus.
The current policy requires those caught downloading to sign a form saying they are aware the activity was illegal then are shown how to shut off the peer-to-peer sharing, she added.
Two of the students are repeat offenders, said Seraichick. For the second offense, it is left at the discretion of the college judiciary whether any sort of punishment will be enacted.
For the third offense, Seraichick said, it is necessary for the college to take action against the student.
Meanwhile, the RIAA can, at any time, take action against the students caught for illegal downloading.
Seraichick said it was a gamble whether any action will be taken but none has been taken against students in the past.
KSC is currently looking to address the issue of illegal downloading to the campus community.
“We’re looking to do more education so [the students] don’t have to go through this,” said Seraichick.
A MyKSC announcement was posted to begin this process and Seraichick added the IT Group was looking to do residence hall programs and other workshops on campus to promote awareness.
“It’s typical with what other schools are doing,” said Seraichick. “We just want the behavior to change.”
PART 2 OF STORY………..
“We don’t want to be the police for the RIAA,” said Seraichick. “We are obligated to respond to these.”
KSC does have a three strike policy in place for dealing with illegal downloading on campus.
The current policy requires those caught downloading to sign a form saying they are aware the activity was illegal then are shown how to shut off the peer-to-peer sharing, she added.
Two of the students are repeat offenders, said Seraichick. For the second offense, it is left at the discretion of the college judiciary whether any sort of punishment will be enacted.
For the third offense, Seraichick said, it is necessary for the college to take action against the student.
Meanwhile, the RIAA can, at any time, take action against the students caught for illegal downloading.
Seraichick said it was a gamble whether any action will be taken but none has been taken against students in the past.
KSC is currently looking to address the issue of illegal downloading to the campus community.
“We’re looking to do more education so [the students] don’t have to go through this,” said Seraichick.
A MyKSC announcement was posted to begin this process and Seraichick added the IT Group was looking to do residence hall programs and other workshops on campus to promote awareness.
“It’s typical with what other schools are doing,” said Seraichick. “We just want the behavior to change.”
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- ONLINE GUY: Illegal downloads a matter of economics over ethics, surveyed students say
- Penn State Students Lose Internet Access Due to Filesharing
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the story URL isn’t working
the media. shouldnt be in there at the start
http://www.keeneequinox.com/media/storage/paper537/news/2006/09/14/News/Riaa-Nabs.45.OnCampus.Students.For.Illegal.Downloads-2269636.shtml?norewrite200609142158&sourcedomain=www.keeneequinox.com
but login needed + no bugmenot login available
Yah I know they want u to register will go ahead and include rest of story hope they dont mind too much of a “cut and paste” job…..
It seems that these students merely had the software on their computers not that they were uploading a large amount of material if any at all. People shouldn’t share from college computers any way. You should only do it with your home computer where you pay the IP yourself. Of course you could just put it on your laptop and then hang around an area that has wireless (provided either by a college or a city). Then it’s REALLY hard to detect who’s doing what. I’ll bet the RIAA is quite nervous about the current proliferation of wireless service. How do you “catch” a moving target jumping from wireless to wireless? But what these students need to point out to their administrators is that file sharing software itself is NOT illegal just like a shovel is not illegal. It’s what you do with it that might be illegal. Sharing non-copyrighted files is perfectly o.k. Sharing copyrighted file is not (I don’t agree…that’s just the current law). Digging a hole with the shovel is o.k. Hitting someone over the head with it is not. But many schools ban certain software. This is unfair and arbitrary. It’s a violation of educational freedom. One may use this software for many purposes other than sharing copyrighted files. At my school I was told that Firefox was not allowed. I told them to go fuck themselves. But I’m a teacher so they backed down. Students may have it more difficult. But they should stand up and defend their right to use the software that they please.
And by the way I always thought that Keene State was in New Hampshire.
Rechecked on Google and you’re right it is NH…..not sure where I saw VT oh well they’re neighbors…
And well first off you’re a teacher? very cool. Secondly outlaw Firefox? They should THANK YOU for using as it ’s making their network that much more secure.
Lastly it appears its not the mere presence of the software itself the article notes:
“Letters concerning the illegal downloads the content of the downloads and which peer-to-peer networks were used in the process were sent to the Information Technology Group at KSC.”
If these kids were smart thought they’d either set up an FTP system for them all to use or just use AllPeers for Firefox and then just keep both invite only.
Also I wonder what P2P methods these guys were using bet you a hundred bucks it’s Limewire Gnutella or some other fast track BS. That and its most likely the speeds of either UL or DL that they are looking for and detecting.