Music-sharing on College network will not change

Lauren Tennenbaum Assistant Arts Editor

With new changes to the Vassar network and a log-in requirement, students have recently voiced concerns that Computing and Information Services (CIS) will begin monitoring individual student activity on the Vassar network. This would mean that the College would have the ability to scrutinize records of what people do on Vassar’s network for evidence of illegal file sharing. As a result, CIS would likely shut down illegal music sharing programs such as OurTunes and Kazaa. Admittedly a prospect more characteristic of a dystopian novel than of the College’s liberal atmosphere, Vassar downloaders can sleep easy tonight: Vice President of CIS Bret Ingerman assured the student body that no such monitoring is occurring, and there are no current plans to begin this monitoring.

The confusion was probably caused by a misunderstanding. “We have equipment on the network that looks for the type of network traffic, such as e-mail, Web, [and] peer-to-peer, and allocates Internet bandwidth accordingly,” said Ingerman. While CIS does not block any of these types of network traffic, they limit the bandwidth available for each type of program so that one activity never monopolizes the shared bandwidth.
Similarly, Vassar’s policy on the illegal sharing of music files through programs such as
OurTunes has not changed either. To this end, downloading music on OurTunes or any similar program is still against College regulations.

“OurTunes is more than just a peer-to-peer file sharing program. OurTunes lets individuals copy the music of others without the permission of the person who has made the music available for listening using iTunes,” said Ingerman in an e-mailed statement. “The College does not proactively look to see if students are downloading materials that may violate copyright.” While CIS does not specifically seek out students who do so, when a copyright holder notifies Vassar that they believe a student is violating their copyright, the student is required to meet with CIS and the Dean of Students for disciplinary consequences.

So for now (and in the near future, as far as anyone can tell), College policy on network monitoring and file-sharing will remain the same. You can rest assured that the people at CIS aren’t scrutinizing all of the websites you’ve visited in the past hour, nor are they searching for your illegal downloads looking to punish you. That said, it is advisable to exercise caution when downloading music from programs like OurTunes, because these programs are illegal, and the College does not support their use.