Student Life
Question 3.6 Details

Does the campus have policies addressing peer–to–peer file sharing, computer viruses, and copyright violations?

Illegal file sharing that violates copyright law is a growing problem on many campuses. In recent years, the entertainment industry has prosecuted students for this activity and has even subpoenaed colleges and universities to identify individuals for using their networks to share files illegally. Many campuses have instituted severe penalties and have developed programs to educate students. Find out what the campus is doing to meet these legal and educational challenges. What happens to students who are identified as engaging in illegal file sharing?

This set of challenges is very important for higher education because it creates a conflict between the values of open information environments that are essential for learning and research, and the legal requirement to comply with copyright law. Technology is only part of the solution; education, awareness, and behavioral and cultural change must also come into play if information environments are to thrive for educational benefits. See the related question on bandwidth management (3.4).

Because files imported from external sources can be infected with computer viruses that can bring a campus network to its knees, many institutions have policies requiring antivirus software to be installed on all connected computers. In many cases, such software is part of a standard package installed on or downloaded to all computers used by individuals authorized to connect to the network, and this may include automatic updates with future versions of the software. Ask what policies and practices govern virus software on the campus. Does the institution take other proactive measures to reduce exposure to viruses, such as scanning e-mail?