April 27, 2007
Ohio U. Bans P2P
Ohio University has taken the unusual step of banning peer-to-peer software on its campus, a policy that took effect today. The move was in response to the Recording Industry Association of America's accusing students at Ohio of being the most prolific in swapping music files online in violation of copyright law.
The trade group also asked university officials to forward warning letters to students allegedly engaged in music piracy. The letters encourage students to settle with the RIAA or face lawsuits. "Left unchecked, P2P applications can consume all available network bandwidth," Brice Bible, the university's chief information officer, said in a statement explaining the ban. He said Ohio would cut off from the Internet those computers on its network that are involved in file sharing.
The blog Techdirt chided the university for "throwing out the baby with the bathwater" and noted that Skype, for example, the Internet telephone service, is legitimate peer-to-peer software. "It's a sad statement of the times that an institution designed for educating and learning about new things," the blog said, "would decide to completely shut off any use of powerful technologies that have plenty of perfectly legitimate uses just because some backwards industry group can't figure out how to change its outdated business model."
Ars Technica, which contacted a number of other colleges recently chastised by the recording-industry group, said none had immediate plans to follow Ohio's lead. --Andrea L. Foster
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