since the students and the past students (alumni) pay for the bandwidth, it's theirs to do with as they please. if they need more, they can pay for more. however in a practical sense if filesharing is using the lions share of the bandwidth, adding more and more may become a game of diminishing returns. as more and more capacity gets added, more and more gets used when the world around them learns of filesharing and discovers these big pipe hosts. in addition, the phone line option becomes less practical each year. american university for instance (my alma matter) has removed its' land lines and installed wi-fi. all comm needs from phones to internet in the dorms and throughout the 60 acre campus will be handled wirelessly starting in september. we'll start seeing this adopted by other institutions as well because the students demand high speed access wherever they are and the technology accomodates.
it may be better therefore to use applications with upload limiters. most have them now (ft and winmx come to mind immediately) and they work very well. the university would thus be better served educating their charges on conserving u/l bandwidth as opposed to eliminating its' use entirely. the students could then participate in the fun of "file broadcasting" and the gratifying social aspects surrounding it, while still doing their research in a timely manner.
the scorched earth duke university policy above is misguided and bound for failure. it teaches young people a miserable lesson about "sharing" and ignores a fulfilling aspect of the peer-to-peer experience. but a little compromise here and there would address the issues and fix them nicely.
- js.
26-06-02, 08:46 AM
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