ISP Policy Position: For A university should monitor university networks and connected computers for improper activities such as copyright infringement. CompSci 001 Spring April 2006

What is an ISP? A business or organization that offers users access to the Internet and related services such as Internet transit, domain name registration and hosting, dial-up or DSL access

Should universities be network monitors? "...the University may find it necessary to access and disclose information from computer and network users' accounts to the extent required by law, to uphold contractual obligations or other applicable University policies, or to diagnose and correct technical problems...the ultimate privacy of messages and files cannot be ensured."

CALEA Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act Began in 1994 and gave law enforcement right to conduct surveillance over digital telephone networks In March 2004 the Joint Petition for Expedited Rulemaking extended CALEA to cover the Internet as well In August 1995 the First Report and Order extended CALEA to broadband service providers

Digital Millennium Copyright Act Does not readily apply to ISP policy its implications to ISPs are included in the full text Service providers are expected to are expected to remove material from users' web sites that appears to constitute copyright infringement

Duke’s Policy Duke does not restrict the content of material transported across its networks However, they reserve the right to limit access or remove material when applicable There is no argument that monitoring the network limits students abilities to use the internet and communications technologies for research or academic work of any kind

Duke’s Policy (cont’d) The guidelines laid out by the university for acceptable use in no way limit a students ability to access the university network for academic or personal use, so long as that use is legal All users on the network are aware of and must agree to the terms of Duke’s acceptable use policy if they wish to access the network

Duke’s Policy (cont’d) Duke’s network is a privately owned and the university clearly states that they reserve the right to monitor the network Duke, obviously, cannot be expected to provide Internet access to facilitate illegal activities Many universities throughout the country, including UNC- Chapel Hill, have similar acceptable use policies and also reserve the right to monitor their university networks to prevent illegal activities

Duke’s Policy (cont’d) Finally, if, for some reason, acceptable use policies do interfere with research, educational, or service missions, universities have procedures for requesting a written waiver to achieve access to the necessary materials

Limiting of Bandwidth Peer to peer downloading can consume a large amount of bandwidth thus negatively affecting other students on the network and their ability to access the Internet Once installed, these programs operate without the permission or knowledge of the computer user, so you may be using excessive bandwidth without even knowing it. University currently allows 5GB of data to be transmitted to the Internet daily

Limited Bandwidth (cont’d) Straight from L-Mo’s mouth: "The Internet is essential for academic work, social communications and all kinds of daily needs. When we have ample bandwidth available, we don't like seeing anyone short-changed on Internet access. It's a question of fairness. We think we can improve things for the vast majority of students by making changes that are very unlikely to cause problems for anyone."

Compromising Security Peer to peer services are notorious for coming bundled with malware as well as increasing a computer’s vulnerability to malware attacks In many instances P2P services run such harmful, bandwidth consuming without and individual’s knowledge

Economic Cost Two major universities responded to a government investigation concerning monitoring of illegal activity on university networks by saying that as a result of bandwidth limitations and malware they have spent $749,000!!! to fix their networks.

Protection of Student Individuals may be fined upwards of $250,000 and spend five years in prison for copyright infringement Average university response to the discovery of student copyright infringement: a warning or limited access to the university’s network

Protection of Student (cont’d) Which consequence would you rather deal with?