Slashdot Mirror
BitTorrent Inherently Illegal?
Nohbdy001 asks: "Today I received a letter from my university's network administration advising me that my network access would be terminated due to 'illegal P2P activity.' The P2P activity that the e-mail cited was BitTorrent and the file being transferred was an update to the Azureus BitTorrent client. The letter stated, 'Until the courts decide that student P2P activity is permitted we will continue to block this activity on our network,' implying that BitTorrent is inherently illegal. It seems such misunderstandings are common, but it is particularly frustrating when coming from people in the IT field. How can a student respond to such an accusation in order to defend the validity of BitTorrent and continue to benefit from its legitimate uses?"
My college does the same damn thing. I can't even do wnload from bittorrent. But my school is also using a stateful firewall, and a lot of those P2P programs break behind a firewall.
On another note, anyone know a way around that?
How did you post this huge comment and still manage to get first post? im impressed.
Dear IT Department,
The "P2P" traffic you refer to consisted of me downloading updates to legal software. I will also use P2P technology to download Linux ISO's and other legal products.
I am not using P2P to download Movies, music or any other content unless the copyright owners have, as is the case with GPL software, explictly authorized unrestricted digital transfer.
You might as well ban FTP and HTTP traffic, as the materials I download can be legally acquired through those protocols as well.
You have not banned any illegal or debated downloads, only the download of software and content that all parties involved agree is legal to transfer.
Sincerely,
The student seeking a transfer to a more competently run University.
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
Open-Source software is not only evil, but infringes on copyrights and patents ;)
He has the "ultimate platinum" subscription, and so.. he can read it, ask his lawyer and post before us (the normal/cheap people)
Get MS to use bittorrent to assist in distrobution of patches through the windows update system. Garunteed within 30 days there would be a federal law that makes blocking bit torrent a crime.
Indeed, if you don't get 'first post' with an "ultimate platinum" subscription then the editors will keep posting the story until you do.
a network administrator at a small private girls' school,
I want your job.
Welcome to the Western Hemisphere, you are what you buy!
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Those farking bastards! How DARE they tell you how to use THEIR network? My GOD! The GALL of them to have network policies in place prohibiting the use of an application which is responsible for the lion's share of copyright violations today! How DARE they???
I think you should sue.
If tomrrow they decide that slashot isnt allowed, then you lose access..
/. ban go away like the McRib.
/. Sheesh.
Yeah, you're a real go-getter.
Let's go ahead and add the word temporarily to your statement. Most university network agreements will tell you that the network is reserved for academic purposes. Twenty minutes with a dean and a solid explanation for how something can be used academically would go a long way towards making that
Like the IT department is gonna ban
I always wondered what the Ombudsman does... I thought they sat around colleges saying "Ommm" and growing bud...
94% of Repubs and 21% of Dems voted to renew the Patriot Act
I'd find a key package that the IT Department relies on and convince/bribe/blackmail the maintainers to switch to torrent-only distibution. Ooops... no security patches for the registration system? Bet the IT Dept. would change the rules then.
... hehehe ...
If I were an Evil Genius
the clock on the wall says 4 til 7
Find out who's responsible, and punch them in the face. It's as simple as that.
And if that doesn't help, talk to your univerity's Omcubsfan. He or she may argue your case strongly at the beginning, but is likely to lose when it really counts. But it's worth a shot.
example.org - powered by Linux!
Uh, right. And if you're going away for a few days, you call the Plant Deptartment to have someone come by and water your plants.
A professor emeritus? I dunno! That sounds crazy! Maybe it's a professor that emigrated? Let's check his Curriculum Vitae. Wait! What the hell is a Curriculum Vitae? Does it mean he matriculated with his syllabus?
Oh, by the way, when I wanted to pay for classes they told me to go the Registrar's Office, but since that's not a real word, I just left my tuition money in an envelope in the Financial Development office. Close enough, right?
If you're studying a particular subject, you're expected to learn the language of that subject.
If you join an academic institution, you should learn the language of academia and academic institutions. Why is this so hard?
If you don't like it, maybe you should attend a different place of higher learning, such as a barber college.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.