OIT Help Desk

File Sharing for students

In reference to the Student Technology Guide policy "Safe Computing" (revised copy 2009-2010) page 24-25, the following list of P2P file-sharing programs should not be installed on your computer:

eDonkey, Overnet, Shareaza, WinMX, BitTorrent, Limewire, Morpheus,eMule, Ares, BearShare, Kazaa, iMesh, FastTrack, Ares Galaxy, Gnutella, ANts P2P, Azureus, BitComet, BitTornado, BitTorrent 5, BitTorrent 6, Cabos, DC++, ExoSee, eDonkey2000, Freenet, KCeasy, FrostWire, giFT, µTorrent, MUTE, MLDonkey, Gnucleus, Kazaa Lite, gtk-gnutella, Warez P2P, Winny, AresWarez, Blubster.

You may not be aware the file sharing applications cause the following problems:

They waste your bandwidth: Not only will these programs share your downloaded songs and videos, but they can significantly slow performance of your own computer and impact network performance for the University as a whole.
They come bundled with adware or spyware: Many file-sharing applications come bundled with adware or spyware which automatically installed on your computer along with the file-sharing application. This software can monitor your activity, sending information to third-party vendors and advertisers on such things as what Web pages you browse or what searches you perform. Apart from privacy, concerns, these add-ons use your computer's system resources to operate and will affect performance. Depending on how much spyware and/or adware you have installed, this may be significant.
You could be sued: If you share files that you are not the copyright owner of, you are likely in violation of University policy and potentially subject to lawsuit by the copyright holder under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. You are responsible for understanding what constitutes legal use of music, movies, software, images, and other copyright works that you own or use. BY using these resources you agree to abide by the policies and guidelines set forth by Indiana State.

The first time you receive an un-authorized file sharing violation you will be required to complete the tasks listed below within two business days or your network privileges will be disabled.

You must perform the following tasks:
• Remove all peer-to-peer file sharing software and all illegally obtained copyrighted material

• Take your computer to the Computer Support Center (which is in room 127 of the Student Computing Complex) during normal business hours and let them know you received a File Sharing email notification so that it can be confirmed that the software and illegally obtained copyrighted material have been removed

• Watch a video

• Read and sign a form

After verification of compliance with all of the above tasks your computer will be returned to you and no further action will be required. Your network privileges will not be disabled.

If you do not complete all of the above tasks within the two business days, your network privileges will be disabled with no exceptions.

If you receive any further un-authorized File Sharing violations your network privileges will be disabled immediately without notice and you will be referred to Student Conduct and Integrity for possible disciplinary action.

Any subsequent un-authorized file sharing violations will result in your network privileges being dissabled immediately and you will be refered to Student Conduct and Integrity for further investigation. Network privileges remain disabled until the outcome of the Student Conduct and Integrity hearing.

If a file-sharing program causes problems for the Indiana State network or such use results in allegations of violation of copyright, OIT is authorized to disconnect your computer from the network if you are in violation of University policy.

ISU is committed to making you aware of legal options for downloading and sharing music, movies and other digital media. Please go to this list provided by Educause to find sources for legal downloads. Some of these resources make music available to you at no charge; others offer digital media at a reasonable cost.

Indiana State recognizes there are legitimate needs for file sharing activity and therefore does not block the legal use of this type of application. However, Indiana State does not permit illegal file-sharing and actually works to detect and block illegal downloads.

To learn how to share files at ISU, check out our Self Study Software Tutorial page on ISecure, a reliable and safe peer to peer file sharing program.

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OIT Help Desk

File Sharing for students