When University freshman Allison Z. returned to her residence hall room in the Living Learning Center last Tuesday and tried to get online to check her e-mail, she found that her Internet access had been shut down.
Only after she plugged her computer into another port did she get online and discover what had happened.
“I saw that the last e-mail I got (from ResNet) said my Internet, my wireless, and Blackboard had all been shut down,” she said.
The infraction? Downloading the Jack Johnson single “Upside Down” last year, Z. said, well before she was a student at the University.
“I knew we were strict, but it was one song,” she said. “I just didn’t think it could happen to me.”
Z.’s case is not a rare one in the University residence halls, where as many as two dozen students’ Internet ports are sometimes shut down in a week, said University student Katherine Anthony, a senior tech support employee at ResNet.
The crackdown hasn’t come from within the University, but rather from copyright companies like the Recording Industry Association of America trying to track computers that have downloaded music or shared files illegally.
“The RIAA just wants to nail anybody they can,” Anthony said. “They just want to make an example out of everybody.”
When a company locates a computer with illegally acquired media material, it contacts and notifies the supporting network – in this case, Network Services at the University, said Acceptable Use Policy Officer Jon Miyake in an e-mail.
In Z.’s case, her computer was shut down for downloading a song on LimeWire, a popular file sharing Web site.
Z. said she picked up a form to get her access turned back on and went directly to the ResNet office in Douglass Hall, after which she was told to clear her computer of all the downloaded files and file sharing programs like LimeWire.
“I spent about five hours taking care of the whole thing,” she said. “It was a pretty big deal.”
After clearing her hard drive, Z. said, her Internet port was reactivated the same day.
“I was very upset, and I was very persistent,” she said.
Many other students are not as lucky, and may wait days to get back online.
“The length of time it takes to restore access really depends on the nature of the disable, available resources to provide assistance with resolving the problem, and the responsiveness of the individual,” Miyake said.
Z. said much of her concern stemmed from losing access to the Blackboard site, which many University professors use to post assignments or lectures from their classes.
“It is definitely something that is taken under consideration, and steps are taken to minimize the impact that disabling network access may have on an individual,” Miyake said. He added that ResNet tries to make the process of dealing with the problem as easy as possible, and said there are a number of other computer labs available on campus.
Anyone using the University’s networks, including students and faculty, are under the same guidelines of the University’s Acceptable Use Policy, Miyake said. Students are more commonly subject to consequences simply because they typically download more files.
But sharing files with others can make a students just as liable, if not more, than they would be for downloading, Anthony said.
“The copyright companies right now are targeting uploading more than downloading,” Anthony said. “They’re trying to target the source. It’s one reason that we’re getting so many.”
In addition to violating the University policy, students downloading files can also make themselves more prone to computer viruses.
“It’s not just a legal problem,” Anthony said. “You’re increasing your risk of getting a virus exponentially. You don’t really know what you’re getting.”
The consequences can get more severe for repeat offenders, who can have their Internet shut down for the entire year by downloading too much, Anthony said.
“Getting caught once we try to treat as a learning experience,” she said. “After that, we really give much less sympathy.”
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