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Many Universities Spending $100K/Year Enforcing P2P Rules

Scott Jaschik writes "A new study documents just how much money colleges are spending on enforcing P2P rules through software license fees, hardware, and other costs. Many private universities are spending more than $100,000 a year — a major allocation of funds. An article in Inside Higher Ed explains the study and its findings."

8 of 323 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Or... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Or college students could pay for their entertainment?

    Oh, wait. Those ZOMG MPAA RIAA corporate BUTTFUCKERS don't pay the artists, why should I? I'll stick it to THE MANG in a bold stand of civil protest and refuse to fill their coffers by supporting their products! ...just as soon as my "Iron Man" torrent finishes.

  2. That's my vote. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Block P2P and reduce costs.

    I really hate these P2P articles and all the folks who defend the tech and the reasons for using it. Let's face it, the only reason P2P is being used is for copyright infringement. I have no sympathy for users of this tech and I really resent having to indirectly pay for its consequences - just because some people "need" to share "their" music.

    Thieves.

  3. Republicans should grab this issue by tjstork · · Score: -1, Troll

    With Democrats poised to silence the right wing by going after radio, it makes perfect political sense to respond with a radical reform of copyrights. If you look at the polls, you'd find that the lion's share of people in IP aren't ever going to support Republicans anyway, so the political fallout doesn't matter.

    Republicans should be singing we shall overcome, protesting every DMCA takedown notice, repeatedly introducing legislation to allow personal file sharing as fair use, shortening the length of copyright and ultimately repealing the DMCA. While they are at it, it wouldn't be bad to make legal documents non-copyrightable, so that you can post them on your web site when people see them.

    Obama has the youth of America behind him... let's see how long that lasts when he has to throw them in jail for copyright violations to serve his own backers in the IP industry. Make Obama defend Madonna, and let Republicans be the creators of a new kind of an economy that recognizes that information wants to be free.

    If it happens to bankrupt the core communications mechanism of the Democratic Party, so much the better.

    --
    This is my sig.
    1. Re:Republicans should grab this issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      If it happens to bankrupt the core communications mechanism of the Democratic Party, so much the better.

      You Repugs are going to lose, and lose big. Butch up and deal with it, kid.

  4. Re:Or... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    You acquire something that costs money, without paying for it, and against the will of the person who charges money for it. That's stealing. Saying it's just "exchanging information" is like saying a car thief is just "moving atoms around".

  5. Re:Or... by theaveng · · Score: 0, Troll

    >>>there is no practical way for students to "get their own bloody network".

    Sure there is. Move off-campus and buy internet from a private company like Comcast or Cox or Verizon. Of course that also means you'd have to pay your own bills, which is quite a shocker for someone used to getting free stuff, but hey! You gotta grow up sometime.

    Or you could stay in the dorm, as I did, and sacrifice some things. I never had anything faster than 28 kbit/s when I was in the dorm, and I survived just fine. No free cable television either. Or heat; I know they had the heat turned-on but it was so miniscule, I still had to stay fully-dressed to keep warm.

    You said in high school you wanted to "get out in the real world". Well, this is it. It means not always getting what you want, unless you're willing to pay for it. It also means sometimes you have to obey the landlord's wishes, because it's his property.

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    FOX NEWS.com should be BANNED from television and internet. Have the Congress take it over and give us Truespeak.
  6. Re:Or... by theaveng · · Score: 0, Troll

    >>>a music student trying to download something from a P2P network for the sole purpose of writing a report?

    Why can't you just go BUY the music like everybody else? Yeah I know. Shocking concept. But the people behind the music deserve to get paid; not stolen. A music student should understand that concept better than anyone else, since he/she will soon be relying on sales for income too.

    I said earlier that a simple solution is just to limit connections to 128 kbit/s. It would still allow students to access email, online radio, or class websites, but the slow speed would discourage them from downloading an illegal 50 gigabyte Bluray rip (~40 day transfer time). The imposed speed limit would make the need for university policing very minimal, since P2P theft would be next-to-impossible.

    --
    FOX NEWS.com should be BANNED from television and internet. Have the Congress take it over and give us Truespeak.
  7. Re:Or... by theaveng · · Score: 0, Troll

    >>>when your OS provider decides to push a 300 Megabyte upgrade at you, what do you do?

    The first thing I'd do is - stop whining. I've downloaded Windows updates over 50 kbit/s phoneline. It takes a few hours, but it's still possible to do it. At 128k your very unrealistic example (since most updates are only 5-10 megabyte chunks) takes five hours. Do it overnight while you're sleeping, or out partying. Or else do it at your parents house. Or get off-campus housing. (Or don't bother since most Windows updates are trash anyway.)

    >
    >>>128K also isn't enough for live video. Youtube extensively buffers at that speed...
    >

    I watch youtube over a phoneline connection. I wait for the buffering to fill halfway, and then I press play to watch the video. Don't act like it's not possible to do.

    --
    FOX NEWS.com should be BANNED from television and internet. Have the Congress take it over and give us Truespeak.