Kay Forrest – The Corsair
JULIE SIMMONS
PJC is cracking down on those who use programs such as Limewire, BearShare, and others to download and share music files, movies, videos, and media on campus.
“The college is trying to protect itself and the students from illegal actions, viruses, and breaches of privacy,” said Kathy Dutremble, director of enrollment management.
Logging onto PJC’s free WiFi network, a student and/or faculty member agrees to abide by PJC’s acceptable use standard guidelines. Installing peer-to-peer file-sharing software is a violation of copyright laws and could potentially introduce viruses on PJC’s network that infects not only students’ portable computers but PJC workstations.
Peer-to-peer traffic used on campus is passing through PJC’s network. Therefore, PJC is legally responsible for the violation.
“The WiFi network is very popular and we are confident it is a worthwhile service to offer,” said Jeff Ward, information security manager. “We have to ask students to abide by the policy. In addition, to the legal risk that PJC incurs, our students need to be aware there are real risks to their internet security when running peer-to-peer software.”
PJC has decided to block all peer-to-peer traffic. Access to the internet on campus will be blocked when peer-to-peer traffic is first detected. After the first attempt, the second follows in a referral to Peter Wilkin, director of student life. If a student continues to retrieve illegal material he/she will be blocked permanently from PJC’s network.
PJC administrators are reforming to student logins for the future, but with the current budget cuts major updates are on hold.