While torrenting is strictly prohibited through Ohio University’s wireless network, the Office of Information Technology focuses on educating students rather than punishing them.
OIT catches an estimate of just under 100 illegal file-sharing activities a month through the wireless network, but sometimes that number can reach more than 200 illegal activities, said Matthew Dalton, director of information security at OIT.
“We are pretty much on par with where other campuses are,” Dalton said.
However, according to an October 2012 study conducted by ScanEye and TorrentFreak, Ohio State University was ranked 20 out of 50 universities nationwide for BitTorrent usage. OU wasn’t ranked in the study.
When someone tries to download an illegal file from sites such as the Pirate Bay, OIT receives an email with the downloader’s computer Internet Protocol address, which the office can track, Dalton said.
The first time someone is caught sharing files, he or she will receive a warning message from OIT. If OIT recognizes a repeat offender, the office will block the offender’s computer from the wireless network, Dalton said.
If that same computer is caught file-sharing three or more times, then the Office of Community Standards and Student Responsibility will become involved to dole out punishment, said Ardy Gonyer, acting director of the Office of Community Standards.
“While suspension and expulsion is an option, we’re always striving to be a more educational process,” Gonyer said.
So far, no student has been caught for a third offense.
“I think most students, after a first offense and after a second offense, when they get locked out of the network, understand and don’t do that anymore, at least on campus,” Gonyer said.
Tony Vo, a freshman studying civil engineering, said he occasionally torrents but would never do so while on OU’s wireless network.
“It’s not like every day you hear about people getting in trouble for torrenting,” Vo said. “It’s just everyone understands these are rules set that if you torrent and you are found, you’ll get in trouble.”
OU’s Student Code of Conduct and wireless network terms of agreement both contain policies against illegal file sharing on campus, but OIT focuses its second-offense punishment on educating students against file sharing.
Even though students receive little warning of the dangers of file sharing, Dalton said that he does not see the need in warnings before the second offense.
“Just like with any message to the students, unless you were to try to make it so big that it just was everywhere, it tends to get lost in the noise of everyone else’s messages,” Dalton said.
Instead, OIT offers a list of legal alternatives to file sharing through Educause, a higher education IT organization. The list is available on OIT’s web page on copyright law at ohio.edu/oit/security/copyright.
“Sometimes people torrent or use other peer-to-peer protocols simply because they don’t know another way to get access to those things,” Dalton said.
dk123111@ohiou.edu
