DANA KUHNBefore leaving for spring break, students gathered once more in the name of the recently fallen Direct Connect (DC). “Connection Interrupted,” a panel discussion sponsored by Student Union, allowed students to direct their questions and concerns toward the administration.
“Lots of people talk to me on campus and are raising concerns about these huge rumors that are floating around,” said senior Michelle Miller, president of Student Union. “People were kind of afraid. People were angry, because they misunderstood some of what was going on. We wanted to clarify what actually was happening, why it was happening, and where the university is coming from.”
Foremost among the concerns expressed at the forum was the possibility of Washington University’s prior awareness of the DC hub.
Matthew Arthur, director of Residential Technology Services and a panelist at the forum, cited the change in technology from that used for previous file sharing hubs as a reason why the administration was not made aware of this year’s DC hub sooner.
“[This year’s DC hub] was quite a different situation,” said Arthur. “It made me realize that there was a technology change we weren’t aware of before. All these people were sharing all these files, but from a bandwidth perspective, it just looked like the bandwidth was being spread out and used in a normal manner.”
It is estimated that over 2000 students made use of the hub. Only the several hundred students that used the hub during the weekend it was shut down, however, will receive e-mail warnings asking them to remove illegal files from their computers.
Rebecca Brown, associate general counsel for the University and one of the forum’s panelists, said that the University’s actions against DC in February involved several factors.
“There were letters sent out by the RIAA and other organizations to universities last spring, one of which was the University, sending a very stern message that we needed to educate our students if we didn’t want to be a target,” said Brown. “When the story in the Riverfront Times came out, it was a really hard thing to ignore and not to do our job of protecting the network, the university, and the students that used it.”
Panelists assured students that no names would be released to the RIAA or any other organizations.
Although unable to provide details about the actions taken against this year’s hub operators or the actions that will be taken against those who operate future DC hubs, Tamara King, director of judicial programs, cautioned students against doing so.
“I’m going to caution everyone-it is not worth it, because if you are downloading inappropriate material, it’s just going to come back and create another problem,” said King. “Downloading and sharing something that is not yours or that you do not have permission to download and share is illegal. It’s not appropriate.”
According to Assistant Vice Chancellor for Technology Jan Weller, the possibility of a University-sponsored file sharing program like those recently adopted by other universities is not a guarantee, but something that is being investigated.
“We are looking into it,” said Weller. “We’re looking into how we would serve that and looking at the cost of it, and I don’t think it’s necessarily inexpensive. When we have enough information, we’ll take it to the university council, and the university will make the decision as to whether that kind of service will be available here.”
Following the discussion, Arthur expressed hope that the forum will encourage open communication between the students and the administration.
“I’ve been trying to get a discussion like this going for years,” he said. “What I want to see is an ongoing discussion. A lot of good things got brought up tonight, and there are a lot of voices to be heard.”
Arthur said that much of the controversy surrounding the termination of DC is due to misunderstandings.
“There were so many people using [DC], and there were a lot of rumors flying around,” said Arthur. “I heard a rumor that if you were caught using a Direct Connect hub, you would be suspended from school for an entire semester.”
Sophomore Jeff Stepp, though pleased to see the discussion take place, was somewhat dissatisfied with some of the panelists’ answers.
“I feel like the administration dodged a lot of questions, [particularly about] what specific evidence they have,” said Stepp. “The other thing I felt didn’t really get answered was, ‘What good does going after the hub operator do?’ No one wins. Copyright laws don’t change. [The University] is not really addressing the issue. They’re going after the scapegoat.”