File sharing impossible on campus

By: Rob Brennan/ Staff Writer

Posted: 12/8/04

Though Eastern provides Internet access to assist students in retrieving information for educational purposes, recreational file sharing programs are blocked from the school's server because they cause a shortage of bandwidth and slow Internet speeds.

Until recently, a large number of students were again downloading music from a newer file-sharing program called Ares. Programs used through Eastern's network such as Ares, Kazaa, Warez, Morpheus and Blubster have all been shut down and are no longer functional through the network.

"I had been using Ares since school started this year," said Ryan Lee, a sophomore communication studies major. "Then, like a week ago, it stopped working."

Some students are confident another program will soon be available, just as others have in the past.

"Every time these programs get shut down by Eastern, other ones with goofy names pop up, then they get shut down, too," said Brad Jancik, a junior biology major.

Students who live in campus housing have gone as far as setting up proxy servers, which allow them to be directly connected to an outside computer or network, allowing file-sharing and other types of downloads to occur through different firewalls.

Students, such as Jon Bivens, a senior biology major, are convinced there will always be ways to get around these banned programs.

"I just have my friends at other schools download music and send it to me through AIM," Bivens said. "It's a lot easier."

Since college students are the main users of these types of programs, music piracy has become a concern across college campuses nationwide.

A survey by International Data Corporation found that use of music downloading programs is heaviest among individuals under age 20.

About 66 percent of the 5,200 online music shoppers surveyed by Greenfield online said they have not paid for and would never pay for the music they have downloaded.

"You shouldn't have to pay for downloaded music," Bivens said. "Plus, if it's any good, it just encourages people to buy (the artist's) albums. If not, it's their fault for putting out garbage."