I am a network admin at a private college and this is an issue that we are trying very hard to deal with. Here are some thoughts that are affecting our decisions. While at most colleges students do in one form or another pay for all internet access that is not the only thing to consider. The vast majority of students are not running napster etc... but they suffer from the lack of bandwidth created by a minority of abusers. Limiting the percentage of bandwidth available to these types of apps by giving a priority to more research/learning type applications seems to be the best way to go. Remember that on the public roads we are not allowed to do anything we want but we do pay for their existance and upkeep, this seems to be much the same thing. Any society without reasonable rules that provide for the rights of all will soon fall apart.
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I am a network admin at a private college and this is an issue that we are trying very hard to deal with. Here are some thoughts that are affecting our decisions. While at most colleges students do in one form or another pay for all internet access that is not the only thing to consider. The vast majority of students are not running napster etc... but they suffer from the lack of bandwidth created by a minority of abusers. Limiting the percentage of bandwidth available to these types of apps by giving a priority to more research/learning type applications seems to be the best way to go. Remember that on the public roads we are not allowed to do anything we want but we do pay for their existance and upkeep, this seems to be much the same thing. Any society without reasonable rules that provide for the rights of all will soon fall apart.