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March 20, 2008, 03:44 PM ET
U. of South Florida Makes Students Think Twice Before Downloading
The University of South Florida has installed software on its network that has helped curb illegal music and movie downloads, according to the Tampa Tribune.
The move comes after 124 students in the past year have been caught using file-sharing software such as Limewire and BitTorrent to download media files illegally.
But while other institutions have used systems that completely block Limewire, BitTorrent, and similar programs, the software that the university has chosen instead redirects students to a Web page which makes them promise not to use the P2P software for illegal purposes. The program was developed by Red Lambda.
Strange as it may seem, file-sharing programs are used for legitimate purposes at times, says Michael Pearce, the university’s vice president of information technology.
“Some schools have taken the approach of, ‘If we see the traffic, we just block it,’” he says. “I wanted to go out and give our students an awareness that they are using it.”
Instead of screening files for certain electronic signatures, or watching for irregular network traffic, the $75,000 software detects the type of file-transfer protocol being used on the network. It doesn’t block illegal file sharing completely, but students who violate their promises and are caught by the RIAA are disciplined.
Mr. Pearce says that the reaction to the new measures was fairly positive after he introduced it to the student senate. —Hurley Goodall
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