p2pnet - rss feed: P2p woes at Elizabethtown
p2pnet.net News:- Elizabethtown College is an independent men and women’s institution located in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County, and it’s having network problems, says Liz Kirk in The Etownian, the online student newspaper.
“Elizabethtown College’s Internet connection has been running slowly since the beginning of the semester,” she says a post, and, “One reason the speed is slower is because of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file-sharing, which is using up the bandwidth of the College.
“P2P,” the story explains, “is software used to make connections to different computers - from five to hundreds - to download anything from music and movies to television shows and gaming software. The software is downloaded from multiple sources, taking different parts of the file from each computer and piecing them together with the use of an encoded tracker.”
Oh.
Not only but also, “This allows an individual to download large files in a short period of time. Internet connection speed depends on the traffic within the network’s bandwidth” which, in turn, “is a measurement of the amount of information that can pass through the network at any given time”.
And to illustrate this principle, the story quotes Ted Stevens, senator and chairman of the Senate commerce committee, who, the story continues, “compared the Internet to ‘a series of tubes’ through which only a finite amount of data can pass.”
Stevens did indeed make that comparison. He also explained that his staff sent him his very own internet at 10 AM, one Friday. But its delivery was delayed, “Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the internet commercially.”
Oh.
Anyway, “The main problem is that some of the software is designed to make multiple connections at one time,” Kirk has Ron Heasley, executive director of the school’s ITS, saying. “Once a certain number of connections are made, our system gets significantly bogged down.”
There are, moreover, legal issues.
“P2P file-sharing is technically illegal,” sophomore Chris J. Miller declares, according to the story. “If consequences were to be put into place on campus, they would affect so many people … like me, that we’d probably be jailed for the rest of our lives.”
And, “I do think P2P file-sharing should be illegal,” junior Alicia Wiles says. “The slower Internet stinks as a result.”
First-year student Bill Bell thought, “It’s like your friend bought the song and you’re just borrowing his or her copy of it and keeping it.”
Meanwhile, “With so many different opinions, it’s hard to judge whether students actually understand the serious consequences of P2P file-sharing,” sadds Kirk.
But not to worry. “The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is in charge of monitoring who uses P2P file-sharing, and what, when and where they are doing it,” she states flatly.
There’s also the problem of “rogue” wireless connections whick presumably, the RIAA is helpless against.
“A rogue wireless connection occurs when an individual sets up a Wireless Access Point (WAP), which ITS prohibits students from doing,” says The Etownian, adding:.
“When a person hooks up an illegal WAP, he or she is allowing strangers access to the Etown College network, without the safety of a firewall. This connection allows hackers to forgo security measures, including the firewall, and gives them complete access to servers with personal information.
“Now that the issues have been brought to the knowledge of the college community, P2P file-sharing is a prominent problem. If the individuals continue, the consequences will be much more serious.”
(Thanks, Ray)
Also See:
The Etownian - File-sharing slows connection, October 23, 2006
very own internet - Ted Stevens on Net Neutrality, July 4, 2006
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October 25th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
“P2P file-sharing is technically illegal,” sophomore Chris J. Miller declares, according to the story. “If consequences were to be put into place on campus, they would affect so many people … like me, that we’d probably be jailed for the rest of our lives.”
Reminds me of those polls they give where college students give dumb answers like the sun revolves around the earth. I hope he is not a law student!