2008 Woodie Awards
Bill may halt illegal file sharing
Pending legislation could force schools to monitor students
By: Meredith Mayberry
Issue date: 2/18/08 Section: News
A pending higher education bill could invade students' Internet privacy in the near future.
The bill, approved by the House of Representatives on Feb. 7, would require schools to police their respective networks in order to prevent illegal file sharing. The Senate passed its own version of the bill on July 24.
The House and Senate still need to come up with a final compromising bill.
Mark McDonald, director of network operations for Information Technology, said monitoring student downloading should not be the job of network technicians.
"It's almost impossible for Internet service providers to police the Internet," McDonald said. "It should be up to the user to be responsible for their downloading. There are cases where some downloading is legal and then some is illegal and it changes all the time."
The bill also would challenge schools to come up with technology that could prevent the problem of digital theft altogether.
"We have no policing system at this time," said Jeff McDowell, IT help desk manager.
McDowell said CMU's network is not monitored. Yet, there has been minor discussion about possible technological advances, he said.
He said there is a privacy issue involved with policing campus downloading.
"You don't want to sniff around in a student's private business," McDowell said. "They're here. They come to school here. They don't want to think CMU is looking over their shoulder."
McDonald said even if CMU devises a plan to stop illegal downloading, there is a good possibility that it will never be implemented.
"It's a big job and it's just too intrusive to monitor the Internet," McDonald said.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America, this bill is a useful step toward addressing the problem of digital theft on a campus.
"This is an issue that cannot be advanced without the participation and commitment of both the higher education and content communities," according to a statement by RIAA.
RIAA said college students are a disproportionate share of the illegal downloading problem and need to be addressed as an individual issue.
news@cm-life.com
The bill, approved by the House of Representatives on Feb. 7, would require schools to police their respective networks in order to prevent illegal file sharing. The Senate passed its own version of the bill on July 24.
The House and Senate still need to come up with a final compromising bill.
Mark McDonald, director of network operations for Information Technology, said monitoring student downloading should not be the job of network technicians.
"It's almost impossible for Internet service providers to police the Internet," McDonald said. "It should be up to the user to be responsible for their downloading. There are cases where some downloading is legal and then some is illegal and it changes all the time."
The bill also would challenge schools to come up with technology that could prevent the problem of digital theft altogether.
"We have no policing system at this time," said Jeff McDowell, IT help desk manager.
McDowell said CMU's network is not monitored. Yet, there has been minor discussion about possible technological advances, he said.
He said there is a privacy issue involved with policing campus downloading.
"You don't want to sniff around in a student's private business," McDowell said. "They're here. They come to school here. They don't want to think CMU is looking over their shoulder."
McDonald said even if CMU devises a plan to stop illegal downloading, there is a good possibility that it will never be implemented.
"It's a big job and it's just too intrusive to monitor the Internet," McDonald said.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America, this bill is a useful step toward addressing the problem of digital theft on a campus.
"This is an issue that cannot be advanced without the participation and commitment of both the higher education and content communities," according to a statement by RIAA.
RIAA said college students are a disproportionate share of the illegal downloading problem and need to be addressed as an individual issue.
news@cm-life.com
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