Chapter 3490
Table of Contents
.010 Introduction
.020 Examples of Recreational Use Software
.030 Policy
.040 Questions
Kansas State University steadfastly supports student access to digital information for academic purposes. However, recent recreational use of software is overwhelming our campus Internet connection, disrupting academic uses of the Internet and causing our interconnection costs to soar.
.020 Examples of Recreational Use Software
Napster (and similar programs like iMesh and OpenNapster) is a program for downloading music files, which has clogged university networks throughout the country, causing more than 200 institutions to ban its use. Napster allows users an easy way to search through hundreds of thousands of popular songs over the Internet and download them free of charge, using the company's software. This process creates a music "library" consisting of users throughout the country and around the world who have installed the software and leave their computers connected to the Internet so others can access their music files. This clogs the university connections to the Internet and interferes with or precludes the transmission of academic uses of the network.
WAREZ is a repository of software acquired without licensure made available for others to download. As an example, a recently documented single WAREZ site on campus produced a sustained data stream equivalent to transmitting 76,800 e-mail messages per minute. This activity, if supported over an entire year, would cost the university $160,800. These recreational uses of the Internet have precluded the continuance of class sessions in a graduate level plant pathology course being conducted over the Internet2. FTP servers that make music files available to others on the Internet have had a similar impact.
The cost of maintaining the interconnection required to carry this traffic is seriously compromising the university's information technology budget. As the recreational use of the Internet continues to escalate, the network log-jamming and information technology costs will only intensify.
Existing K-State Information Technology Usage policy, PPM Chapter 3420 identifies examples of prohibited use of KSU-owned or operated computing and network resources, including the types of activities described herein.
Student governments across the country have been addressing this nation-wide phenomenon, with many passing resolutions concerning the use of the Internet for academic purposes only. The student government at the K-State College of Technology and Aviation at Salina has recently adopted a reasonable use policy with respect to student use of the Internet. On the Manhattan campus, the K-State student government passed a resolution April 27 in support of restricting irresponsible use of K-State Internet resources. All would agree that a voluntary practice, based upon a responsible use policy recommended by the Manhattan and Salina K-State Student Governments is the desirable eventual solution.
Therefore, K-State will join the more than 200 other universities in preventing the prohibited use of Napster, WAREZ and other recreational uses of the Internet similar to those described above, for the reasons previously noted. However, we recognize that a large number of students have the current situation built in to living and study habits. Therefore, to accommodate this as much as possible, this directive will become effective May 12 and will be in effect thenceforth.
Questions regarding this policy should be sent to the Vice Provost for IT Services at lcarlin@k-state.edu.
