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This is a news article posted for the information
of our Department ONLY!!!
We do not have anything to do with the ICARUS program!!!
Go to http://www.ufl.edu and search for ICARUS.
June 27. 2003 6:01AM
UF
pulling plug on Net piracy in dorms
By CARRIE MILLER
Sun staff writer
UF uses a system that detects when students in residence
halls share a large number of files.
The University of Florida has
successfully turned down the volume on music and movie "file-sharing"
in its residence halls, in a pioneering pre-emptive strike against recording
industry lawsuits.
On Wednesday, the Recording Industry Association of America announced plans to
use sophisticated software to track down and file suit against thousands of
individuals who "swap" large numbers of music files - many of whom are
college students.
Last month, UF's housing office put in place a similar fix - one that ended with
a temporary Internet suspension for more than 100 students spending the Summer A
term in the residence halls.
"We may be one of the first institutions, and certainly one of the first
housing operations, in the country to do this," said Norb Dunkel, director
of housing at UF.
"We're doing something very progressive in a contemporary manner."
In an effort to squelch the illegal sharing of copyrighted files in its
residence halls, UF simultaneously launched an Internet piracy awareness
campaign in the dorms and a new computer management system called ICARUS, which
stands for Integrated Control Application for Restricting User Services.
ICARUS monitors the UF computing network and detects when students in the
residence halls are sharing a large number of files, Dunkel said.
It then "pulls the plug" on the offending dataport, cutting the
student off from communication outside of UF and sending a pop-up message
explaining why.
To get re-connected, Dunkel said, the student has to acknowledge the wrongdoing,
remove from his or her computer whatever file-sharing software was being used,
and sign a pledge not to do it again.
Second offenses will be met with a five-day suspension of Internet services for
communicating outside of the university, Dunkel said, and third with indefinite
Internet suspension.
In the initial week of ICARUS deployment, 110 of 600 students living on campus
for the first of three summer terms were identified as illegally sharing files.
But no one was busted twice.
"We were really surprised," Dunkel said. "We really thought we'd
have some recidivism, but this has been an absolutely wonderful program
deployment."
Meanwhile, some college students and other Gainesville residents who aren't
under ICARUS' watchful eye say they plan to continue downloading music as long
as it's free.
"I guess it's kind of wrong to steal their songs," said 15-year-old
Trevor Knowles, as he flipped through used discs at the CD Warehouse on
Thursday.
"But it's better than paying $16.99 for a CD when it only has one or two
songs you like," said Knowles, who admits to downloading at least 100 songs
using Kazaa, a popular file-sharing program.
Janet Wentworth, a 20-year-old UF student, said she "doesn't download that
many songs," and typically uses the Internet as a way to preview the music
of local bands or other new artists.
"If I like a band, I'm going to go out and buy their album because it's
their money," she said, holding one Fiona Apple, one Ani Difranco and one
Anthrax CD she planned to purchase.
Nevertheless, Wentworth said she doubts the threat of lawsuits is going to stop
anyone she knows from downloading free music.
"Nobody can control the Internet," she said.
Lennie Ambrose, a 27-year-old former Gainesville resident, said he doesn't see
how filing thousands of lawsuits would be cost-effective.
Still, CD Warehouse owner Michael Buss said he's glad the recording industry is
trying to do something.
"Being a retailer, I obviously side with the artists," said Buss, who
complains that music piracy hurts his business.
"One kid comes in here and buys the new Radiohead CD and either burns a
copy for his entire floor or puts the darn music on the Internet."
More and more frequently, Buss said, music-swappers will get advance copies of a
band's CD and put it on the Internet before he can begin selling copies legally.
"I don't want to sound preachy, though," Buss said. "There's a
difference between a guy with a real souped-up computer copying files like crazy
and some high school kid in his house snagging some free music."
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