Spring Break
Access denied: universities crack down
Programs like Ruckus attempt to implement alternative to illegal downloading on campus
Craig Bidiman
Issue date: 11/8/07 Section: News
Napster paved the way for campus downloading.
Because of controversy surrounding Napster, file-sharing programs have become more prominent than they once were.
"I use Limewire," said Brendon Blaustein, a pre-pharmacy major. "You can find a lot of music and other forms of media on it that you can't find anywhere else."
Blaustein understands why many record companies and artists are angry over people downloading their content.
"They are losing money from people downloading their music instead of buying it," Blaustein said. "But I tend to disregard this when I download because [downloading] is a good way to sample the music before you buy it."
After numerous musicians spoke up against Napster, the program only became more popular, which sparked the creation of Limewire, Morpheus, Bearshare, iMesh and many other programs.
In addition to these individual file-sharing programs is the utilization of torrent.
Torrents, in most cases, are folders containing full album downloads, movies and television shows.
They are referred to as peer-to-peer software. Generally the torrent software for the file-sharing program is downloaded, then a number of torrent sites - containing the actual files to be downloaded - are accessed.
"I torrent so much music," said Chase Emory, a sophomore physics major at the University of Oregon. "When I got caught, I was hoping to see a list of all the things I had downloaded. That list would have been endless."
Emory was caught during spring term of 2007 by NBC Universal when he downloaded the film "Children of Men" through the Macintosh torrent program Transmission.
"NBC Universal wrote UO an e-mail telling them what I had done," Emory said. "The university responded by completely shutting off my Internet access."
Emory's Internet access was shut off for over a week, which left him unable to log into Blackboard to receive his chemistry homework.
The University of Oregon requires that each student living in residence halls sign a contract agreeing not to use file-sharing programs. Emory was in direct violation of this policy.
Because of controversy surrounding Napster, file-sharing programs have become more prominent than they once were.
"I use Limewire," said Brendon Blaustein, a pre-pharmacy major. "You can find a lot of music and other forms of media on it that you can't find anywhere else."
Blaustein understands why many record companies and artists are angry over people downloading their content.
"They are losing money from people downloading their music instead of buying it," Blaustein said. "But I tend to disregard this when I download because [downloading] is a good way to sample the music before you buy it."
After numerous musicians spoke up against Napster, the program only became more popular, which sparked the creation of Limewire, Morpheus, Bearshare, iMesh and many other programs.
In addition to these individual file-sharing programs is the utilization of torrent.
Torrents, in most cases, are folders containing full album downloads, movies and television shows.
They are referred to as peer-to-peer software. Generally the torrent software for the file-sharing program is downloaded, then a number of torrent sites - containing the actual files to be downloaded - are accessed.
"I torrent so much music," said Chase Emory, a sophomore physics major at the University of Oregon. "When I got caught, I was hoping to see a list of all the things I had downloaded. That list would have been endless."
Emory was caught during spring term of 2007 by NBC Universal when he downloaded the film "Children of Men" through the Macintosh torrent program Transmission.
"NBC Universal wrote UO an e-mail telling them what I had done," Emory said. "The university responded by completely shutting off my Internet access."
Emory's Internet access was shut off for over a week, which left him unable to log into Blackboard to receive his chemistry homework.
The University of Oregon requires that each student living in residence halls sign a contract agreeing not to use file-sharing programs. Emory was in direct violation of this policy.
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