Ohio University CIO: I have ‘virtually stopped’ P2P

After just 2 weeks of closely monitoring the network for illegal illegal P2P traffic, it has “virtually stopped,” said Ohio University’s CIO, Brice Bible.

“After just two weeks, Recording Industry Association of America notices of illegal file sharing detection have dropped to nearly zero as compared with 10 to 50 per day before,” Bible said. RIAA recently mounted a prelitigation campaign to eliminate illegal file sharing on campuses, including Ohio University.

“I am pleased that we had such good results in a short time,” Bible said. “And we did it without having to restrict legal uses of P2P technology.”

Since April 27, his IT team has revoked internet access for 240 students for unauthorized P2P program usage This includes a formerly secret DC hub setup that was operating within the university network.

But how are they are able to determine legitimate versus illegitimate usages of P2P or file-sharing programs?

In an interview recently posted on Slyck, Bible said that he “… does not actively [block] legitimate uses of P2P. We are letting unencrypted, legal traffic through and have created an exception process for those using typical illegal protocols who are inadvertently shut-off.” He followed up by saying that BitTorrent is “permitted and does not require an exception,” though how he reconciles this when it is clearly on the list of banned P2P programs is beyond me.

He claims that through “…technical and experts’ refinements, the system is now sensitive enough to filter out illegal file sharing while leaving most legal file sharing untouched.”

“Our system is now set up to automatically let through the types of traffic legal users are asking for,” Bible said.

But, what about programs like BitTorrent for instance. How do they differentiate between a legal download from either the BitTorrent Entertainment Network or Vuze, and say from The Pirate Bay or other torrent tracker site I wonder. Is it even possible?

Bible cryptically says that “We are aware of the legitimate uses of BitTorrent, which is only one P2P [protocol] used for both legal and illegal P2P.” Guess only Ohio University students connected to the campus network can answer this question.

Network security was another concern that supposedly made Ohio U jump on the anti-P2P bandwagon, fearing that some P2P and file-sharing programs allowed for easy remote access to networked computers and/or infect them with spyware, malware, or viruses.

But, as Slyck again pointed out, do P2P programs make PCs any more “… vulnerable to viruses than the World Wide Web/eMail/FTP, etc.?”

Bible responds:

Many P2P protocols open ports that create security vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities can be exploited by a variety of malware or hackers looking for an opening into a computer system. Some P2P protocols also are known to behave like spyware.

So what does the University think about Bible’s efforts in squashing P2P usage on campus?

“Before, we were waiting to hear from the industry before taking steps. Now we’re doing our own monitoring, which gives us early warning and allows us to deal appropriately and uniformly with offenders,” Vice President for Student Affairs Kent Smith said.

As for the Ohio University President himself, Roderick J. McDavis is pleased that Brice Bible has been so successful in “protecting” copyright holders, meaning their ability to make more profits, as well as the network users whose bandwidth has suffered under the strains of pesky P2P users.

“Illegal file sharing is a problem on campuses across America, and Ohio University has been no exception,” he said. “Our new approach is working. Those individuals who have been doing this illegal activity have gotten the message that it is time to stop.

“Illegal file sharing is unfair to the copyright owners. It is unfair to other network users. And it exposes our network to unacceptable security risks. We will not tolerate this illegal activity,” he added.

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