The incessant downloading of music,
movies, television shows and software by students is clogging computer
networks and impairing legitimate academic pursuits...
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Campus
Crackdown
"But
everybody else is doing it . . ."
It's
the oldest excuse in the book. The one that irks parents most,
but universally utilized to justify youthful misdeeds. While most
of us tried the excuse to rationalize such relatively innocent behavior
as wearing short skirts or breaking curfew, the rationalization
has been adopted by thousands of college students to steal music,
movies and other copyrighted works on the Internet. Finally, administrators
are starting to crack down on students who are taking advantage
of their schools' powerful computer networks and high-speed Internet
connections to download for free everything from the
latest Eminem CD to the new James Bond movie, often before new releases
hit the record stands and big screens.
The
most publicized and effective crackdown occurred last month at the
U.S. Naval Academy where administrators seized nearly 100 government-issued
computers from Midshipmen suspected of downloading unauthorized
copies of music and other copyrighted works. Bound by a strict
honor code that reads, in part, Middies must not "lie, cheat, steal
or tolerate those who do," (a code we all are, or should be, bound
by in some respect) students found guilty face punishments ranging
from loss of leave to court-martial and expulsion.
In
addition to legal and moral reasons, civilian schools have a more
practical motivation to curb illicit Internet piracy on campus.
The incessant downloading of music, movies, television shows and
software by students is clogging computer networks and impairing
legitimate academic pursuits by faculty and students. At the University
of Maryland, for example, students have complained that slow connections
are hampering their studies. At the University of Santa Clara,
some faculty members claim they can't use Internet-based technology
while teaching evening classes the network is just too
slow, as students are busy downloading free music in their dorm
rooms.
Until
recently, school administrators have been reluctant to act for fear
of being perceived as invading student privacy and impeding academic
freedom. While there still exists an unwillingness to monitor actual
content downloaded on students' computers, many colleges and universities
are getting creative in an attempt to crack down on Internet piracy.
School officials at UCLA and elsewhere have taken steps to limit
or restrict students' ability to use peer-to-peer services such
as Kazaa and others by limiting the amount of bandwidth accessible
by each student.
In
addition to technological measures, many schools are using widespread
Internet piracy by students as an opportunity to educate them on
copyright law. At Tufts University, for example, every student
is required to attend an orientation seminar on copyright infringement
before being given access to a broadband connection.
Other
schools are holding dorm meetings and orientations to send a more
direct message. Students at these schools who use the campus network
for unauthorized copying are subject to disciplinary action from
probation to being booted off the campus computer network.
For
those students who have been disciplined, the response is invariably
the same: "But everyone else is doing it, why target me?" To quote
every parent throughout the history of time who has had to respond
to this justification, "If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would
you?" If that's not enough, illicit peer-to-peer file "sharing"
is illegal, plain and simple it's no better than stealing
books from the campus store.
For
that reason and that alone, the nation's colleges and universities
must ramp up efforts to deter the widespread theft of copyrighted
works taking place on campus. Some have taken good first steps,
but much more remains to be done.
[Posted
December 12, 2002]
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