Student Affairs
On-Line
The on-line magazine about
technology and Student Affairs
Gary D. Malaney - Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst
Editor
Stuart Brown - StudentAffairs.com
Executive Editor
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Student Affairs Gary D. Malaney - Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst Editor Stuart Brown - StudentAffairs.com |
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Student Affairs Digital Showcase - File Sharing
Will Barratt, Ph.D. File sharing software typically used to download music enables other people with compatible software to gain access to certain files on your computer. Essentially, by having music sharing software on your computer, your computer is a server attached to the Internet. Access to files may be restricted to certain folders (sub-directories) or to certain types of files (music). Observant readers will notice that the WWW uses file sharing between web servers and your browser. You are browsing the web server at http://studentaffairs.com now and your access is restricted to certain files and folders; you do not have access to other folders and files. Even as you browse Internet sites your computer is performing some of the tasks of a server. Have you ever returned to a website, such as http://amazon.com to encounter the greeting, "Hello Andy?" Through use of internet cookies browsing on the Internet becomes a two way street; the user is becoming a file server just as much as the website. With music file sharing software, this two-way street can be very busy.
File types are an important feature of all files, and are important in file sharing. File types are defined by the 'file extension,' the three or more letters that follow the "." in a file name. For example as we wrote and edited this document in FrontPage we have saved it with the file name and extension digitalshowcase.htm, and the htm is the file type or file extension. Our computers 'associate' the htm extension with browsers. All htm files on our computers are opened with a browser. On our computers all files with the extension "doc" are opened in Microsoft Word, all files with the extension "wpd" are opened in WordPerfect and all files with the extension "jpg" are opened in our currently favorite graphic viewer. Media file types will be associated with certain kinds of media playing software. Music File Types
As computers and their use have expanded beyond the word processing and data entry generations, the "computer as entertainment center" has shifted into the mainstream. Computers not only play music, but can be used for music composition and for the creation of such high-visual and high-sound films as Toy Story and Finding Nemo. Nevertheless the computer still relies on audio and video files to make the music and the movie happen. What follows is a brief introduction to some of the common music formats used today.
Aimster, KaZaa, Blubster, iMesh and Bear Share are among the popular new Napster derivatives dominating the file sharing universe. An important question to ask is how these are different from Napster? Napster was legally shut down what seems like 20 web years ago. Essentially, all the current software have minor differences but are grouped into a category that is commonly referred to as "peer to peer" (P2P); Napster was not P2P software. Therefore, the software company (KaZaa for example) does not store the media file in their file servers, but instead provides the technology to locate the file on another users machine. Napster provided media stored on file servers and was found to be in violation of copyright laws. For example a student at Alpha University who is trying to download a media file using P2P software can do a search using one of the P2P programs and locate the file on a student's computer at Beta College (who is also running the same P2P program). Some programs operate a little differently and have their own search criteria for members to locate files, but essentially the P2P technology is similar. One user sharing the file with another user, and the P2P software company does not own or control the file being shared. Consequently they are not going the way of Napster, which actually stored the music on its own servers. Another way to look at how P2P programs work is to think of the phone company. The company provides the technology to share the conversation, and it provides the phone book, but the users control the conversation. These current generation P2P programs have also discovered there is no reason to stop at music files. So, most of the newer programs allow users to search for, or share any types of files. Most commonly these other files are video or movie files. To the chagrin of IT administrators these files can often be measured by gigabytes (huge files) and not by megabytes (merely large files), which are far smaller. As a comparison it would take nearly 80 copies of this file to make one megabyte. An easier comparison is to think of volume. If a music file is the size of a gumball (this file is a grain of sand), then the video files can be anywhere from a similar size all the way up to beach ball size and larger. Imagine squeezing those through campus internet connections. File and computer security should be an important concern for every student affairs professional. File sharing P2P software have inherent security flaws that make computers using them inherently not secure. If confidential records are stored on a computer that includes common file sharing software, then the problems of security and confidentiality multiply. Every computer on the Internet has a unique IP address and searches for music involve locating a computer's IP address. It is remarkably easy to find any person who uses P2P software, and what a student can find, a recording company and their legal arm can also find. Copyright and fair use Copyright is a matter of the US Constitution, international treaty and federal law. The simple version is that no one other than you has the right to copy anything you write or record. The specifics are quite complex as are the exceptions. For excellent and detailed information go to http://www.loc.gov/copyright provided by the Library of Congress. If users are allowed to share anything from movie files to music, it means the stakes are only going up for P2P providers. Most of the recent complaints about sharing music files have come from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) who brings the complaint that it is illegal for users to share copyrighted songs. The inclusion of copyrighted motion pictures and other media in the file sharing world are likely to bring more complaints against P2P users, many of whom are college students using the college network to share these files. But, what is the truth behind RIAA versus P2P companies and users? Are these users protected under "fair use" doctrine? As higher education professionals we may notice an instructor down the hall is showing the film Chinatown, or the music instructor is playing a CD of Ragtime for a class of music students, so how is it different when students share files with each other? Under "fair use" someone can make a single copy for personal or educational use. Fair use is outlined in Copyright Law of the United States of America and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code (downloaded from http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107) which states that a copy made "for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright." Some of the recent contentions from the RIAA is that sharing music files online is essentially piracy. In the recent Grokster decision, users of the Grokster P2P system were found to be guilty of copyright infringement. No fair use doctrine was found to be in effect in this case. Additionally, the Aimster decision in 2002 found that "While Defendants do not elucidate this argument in their brief, they apparently believe that the ongoing, massive, and unauthorized distribution and copying of Plaintiffs' copyrighted works by Aimster's end users somehow constitutes "personal use." This contention is specious and unsupported by the very case on which Defendants rely." (U.S. District Court Judge Marvin E. Aspen, http://www.g2news.com/TrialDossier/MadsterRuling.htm ) Stealing a CD from a campus bookstore is a criminal offense, and the police and legal authorities will prosecute and punish anyone for stealing that physical property. Stealing the information on that CD through file sharing is different under the eyes of the law, and obviously is different in students' eyes. Students who would never steal physical property think nothing of stealing intellectual property, even when the students leave their computers' IP addresses at the sites of the thefts.
On June 25th, 2003 the RIAA announced it would begin to gather evidence and prepare lawsuits against P2P users who share substantial amounts of copyrighted music. In order to do this the RIAA plans to use new software that scans the same public directories that P2P users use to find the music. The RIAA software locates users who offer to share copyrighted music, then initiates a download of the music. The next step uses public IP (Internet Protocol) addresses which are essentially your computers address on the Internet and also a vital component in connecting P2P with another computer. The RIAA can serve a subpoena to the ISP (Internet Service Provider) or college to reveal the name and address of the user. Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), ISPs are obligated to provide this information. Given that P2P companies provide the software, and the college or university provides the connection, usually the user provides the computer. While the P2P software companies do claim products are safe, opening your computer to unknown outside users can have unpredictable results. Bugs in the software could potentially exploit your computer, opening up more than just the files you want to share. For example, those Quicken files, or financial spreadsheets, or personnel reviews, or conduct summaries or grades - those could potentially be downloaded.
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