It was not the Sobig virus that has the college network on its knees, but the Blaster worm. These came close together, but they had distinct styles: the Sobig virus issued vast amounts of email (with the virus attached, of course). It is responsible for much of the spam that has shown up in the inboxes of Mac and PC users alike. The MS Blaster worm was more insidious, in that it was able to

infect computers that were simply connected to the Internet, so even users who are careful to delete suspicious email might have been infected.

The Network Problem

With all the inherent advantages that the digital age has brought us, there are definitely some drawbacks. With faster internet connections and the huge volumes of information available,  collecting music and video has become more accessible to all of us.With new file sharing applications available for free,  just about anyone can download music and video files while ignoring the copyright laws.

These laws (see RIAA)  ten years ago were not a major topic. The ability to download and burn files to compact disc had not been invented. As the internet expanded, modems became faster and file compression technology advanced. It was only natural to transfer music and video files over the internet from one computer to another.

It seemed harmless. What was the problem with a student sharing a music file with another? A whole generation of students had grown up with and were comfortable with  file transferring  technology.

The problem was three fold. First , it is illegal to download copyrighted music to a computer without paying for it. Unniversitys and colleges have an obligation to monitor and stop any illegal activity on their networks. Second, the amount of bandwidth that was utilized during these transfer were enormous. This had a slowing effect for all other users of the network. Third, with users exchanging files, viruses

      were infecting networks slowing and sometimes bring networks to a halt.

Colleges take action

In response to these these problems, many colleges have installedreactive software , added rules to their student and faculty handbooks and are looking to the music industry to find solutions. Three computer administratorsfrom Lehigh University, East Stroudsburg University and Northampton Community College have tried a variety actions.

Students and teachers are encouraged to read the school handbook at Northampton. The rules of the network are spelled out here. The same rules are available on the web page of the all three schools.

Northampton’s networkusers should not interfere with access, security or privacy of the network...All software on any college hardware must have an original license. No copyrighted software may be copied. Students are not to install any software on any college hardware. Failure to abide to these rules will result in the student being reported to the Dean of Students and disciplinary action. Offenders may also be subject to civil penalties and or criminal prosecution under federal or state law.

LehighUniversity allows the installation of software to the schools computers as long as it is freeware or licensed. Jack Ruttle, the schools net administrator said “ We try to stay out of the copyright  infringement problem until the college receives a complaint . Once the complaint is received, we go to work.” Ruttle said that they are required to deny access to the network to any student that is implicated in copyright  infringement. After thorough investigation, the university decides how to handle the problem on a case by case basis. “We do not want to end up in the middle of a copyright  infringement battle” said Ruttles.

Wireless connections

All of the colleges have installed wireless access to their networks. Wireless access is based on transmitting aninternet signal to computers equipped with receivers . Usually found on portable laptop computers, this wireless technology is quickly becoming the standard at today’s education centers. “ The wireless technology also referred to as Wifi opens the door to more network difficulties” said Briggs at Northampton.

All three schools utilize this new technology to limited areas on their campuses. “Wireless access does pose some problems for computer services” Briggs said.If a students computer is infected it can spread to the college network. He asks that all students accessing the schools networkhave their operating systems updated frequently. He also recommends that students sign up at www.us-cert.gov for daily virus updates. A regular visit to: http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp

will assure that your Windows operating system is protected with the latest patches also. Briggs recommends that all software on the student’s computersbe updated to the latest version.

What does the future hold?

A new legislative bill was introduced in California and may be a reflection of what can be expected in the future to protect colleges for copyright infringements by students and faculty.US Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) introduced a bill to allow copyright holders such as music recording and distribution companies to engage in the otherwise illegal action ofnetwork vandalism against P2P network users that share copyrighted materials. Using software known by the industry as “Distributed denial of service software, it actively jams the file sharers equipment via a virus written specifically to stop such activity. This bill would have givenmedia companies the power of law enforcement.

Eventually this billed died in committee.Berman said he will not revive the measure. For one thing, copyright holders may not need extra protection to combat file-sharing piracy, he said. And though Berman wasn't deterred by complaints from consumer advocates, the concerns voiced by Hollywood studios -- among the biggest beneficiaries of the bill, given their active anti-piracy efforts online -- suggested that Berman was climbing out on a limb by himself by asking for the copyright holders to actively become Internet policemen.                                                                        ###“