In an open letter to students, the university announces that it will now restrict the use of all “P2P, or file-sharing on the campus computer network”.
Ohio University has currently received the most complaints from the RIAA regarding illegal music downloading to date, having received some 1,287 notices since last September, and averaging 10-15 new ones a day.
“The number of copyright complaints we have received is not a sign that pirating is high on our campus compared with other institutions,” interim Chief Information Officer Shawn Ostermann said.
“We believe that ensures a quality learning and teaching environment,” Ostermann said. “Sharing information is what you are supposed to do at a university.”
Ohio University originally a while back that it “…purposely maintains an open, accessible network so students have full access to information” but, apparently the heat has gotten too high to ignore.
In a clear reversal, Ohio University is now cracking down on “sharing,” claiming that the campus computer network is of finite capacity and that it is important that users share its resources appropriately so that “..every student, faculty member and researcher has access to the computer resources they need.” .
“The network is a shared resource, and we must ensure that it is available to all users,” said Chief Information Officer Brice Bible. “Peer-to-peer file-sharing consumes a disproportionate amount of resources, both in bandwidth and human technical support.”
“Left unchecked, P2P applications can consume all available network bandwidth,” said Bible. “In fact this happened at Ohio University years ago when the original Napster file-sharing program became widely available.”
It also blames P2P and file-sharing applications for unnecessarily exposing the university’s computer network to “…viruses, spyware and other attacks,” and oh yah, for frequently being “…used for illegally distributing copyrighted works.” Something tells me it’s the latter reason for the decision, and not resources or spyware.
How many times have you downloaded a virus or spyware using BitTorrent? The number’s probably miniscule in number compared to the amount of people who use IE and get mixed up in all that MySpace mumbo jumbo.
Irregardless, the clock ticks down to when P2P will be banished from the Ohio University computer network.
The notice reads:
Beginning at 12:01 a.m. Friday, April 27, the university will begin monitoring its network for P2P file sharing activity and disabling Internet access for computers found in violation of the new policy. Once disabled, a computer’s Internet access will remain off until its user contacts the IT Service Desk (740-593-1222) and agrees to abide by the university’s computer and network use policy. A second violation will result in Internet access being disabled again and a referral to University Judiciaries if a student is in violation or to the appropriate administrator if an employee is involved.
Just to show they leave the options open for legitimate usage they allow the opportunity for “…Individuals who need to use P2P software for legitimate purposes (to) discuss their needs with the IT Service Desk.”
I’m sure that will be an easy process.
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NAH! That would be too easy soulxtc……LOL!
They oughta just quit saving their IP logs and then just tell the RIAA to kiss their aRRsses.
This is a stupid move on the universitys part. Not only are they going to have to monitor everything but they are giving in to the likes of the RIAA…which if you give an INCH they will take a mile!
i would not be suprised if some students told them bye!