DISABLING PEER-TO-PEER FILE-SHARING
Many
students are unaware that their computers are sharing
copyrighted files. Because of the functionality built into peer-to-peer
(P2P) file-sharing software
such as Kazaa and Grokster, copyrighted audio and video
files on your computer may be available to others for downloading
over the Internet without your
knowledge or permission.
Smith’s Policy
on the Acceptable Use of Computer Resources prohibits
downloading, making available for download to others,
or using copyrighted audio, video, images, text,
or software without permission of the copyright
owner.
Any copyright violation notices that Smith receives
are treated seriously and processed following the
procedures outlined in
the College’s Digital Millennium
Copyright Act Policy.
For a first
violation of the policy, the student is notified and
asked to remove the relevant material
and/or software.
A repeat violation results in immediate
removal of the student’s computer access privileges and referral
of the matter to the College Judicial Board for adjudication.
If you are using or have ever installed a P2P file-sharing application on
your computer, we strongly recommend that you remove it
even if you never use it.
To remove an installed application on a Windows computer:
- Go
to Start, then Settings, then Control Panel.
- Double-click on Add
or Remove Programs.
- Select the application and click on the Remove button.
To remove an installed application on a Mac:
- Open the Applications folder.
- Drag the application to the Trash or ctrl-click on the application icon and select Move to Trash.
If you choose not to remove the application, you must ensure
that your computer does not share copyrighted
materials with others unless you have specific
permission from the copyright owner.
The following Northern Illinois University
website provides instructions for disabling file-sharing on many popular
peer-to-peer programs:
http://www.its.niu.edu/its/internet/bandwidth/allp2p.shtml
The following
are examples of legal music download
sites:
| Napster | http://www.napster.com |
| iTunes | http://www.apple.com/itunes |
| MP3.com | http://www.mp3.com |
| Musicmatch | http://www.musicmatch.com |
| Rhapsody | http://www.rhapsody.com |
| Launch | http://launch.yahoo.com |
| PureVolume | http://www.purevolume.com |
| Audio Lunchbox | http://www.audiolunchbox.com |
