Educause Security Discussion mailing list archives
Re: Do you block P2P ?
From: Kevin Wilcox <wilcoxkm () APPSTATE EDU>
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 17:15:52 -0400
2009/9/3 randy marchany <marchany () vt edu>:
At 15:12 -0400 9/3/2009, mike corcoran wrote:
How many of you block P2P on your campus? If you do block it, how many complaints do you receive because of it?
Whenever I hear the "do you block XXXX", I have to ask "what is the purpose of the block?" The reason why I ask the question is to make sure the "solution" doesn't introduce a worse problem than the one it was trying to solve. Obviously, I presume the block is to limit your liability with regard to illegal downloads. I also presume you have an extensive awareness campaign on the dangers and merits of P2P downloads. Without that, you won't be able to solve the problem. However, you really need to ask the question "does the block prevent legit uses of P2P?".
<snip some good stuff> Randy - this is the idea I was hinting at with my earlier comment about treating the symptom. When we first discussed what to do with P2P here, my knee-jerk suggestion was just to block it completely. Instead, we had a lot of success with sending emails to student that were using P2P and letting them know that they were seen using p2p software, it may have been for legal, legitimate purposes, in which case they could ignore the email it may have been a result of viral or some other infectious activity, in which case they needed to have their machine checked at our tech support centre, or it might have been a result of illegal file-sharing, in which case they could possibly face legal action. Very few students received multiple emails and you could watch P2P usage drop sharply after emails started going out. In addition, legitimate users aren't being penalised aside from receiving the occasional email that they were seen using P2P software and that it is in their best interest to only use it for legitimate purposes. kmw -- Kevin Wilcox Network Infrastructure and Control Systems Appalachian State University Email: wilcoxkm () appstate edu Office: 828.262.6259
Current thread:
- Re: Do you block P2P ?, (continued)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? Sweeny, Jonny (Sep 03)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? Michael Sinatra (Sep 03)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? Cal Frye (Sep 03)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? Dennis Duncan (Sep 03)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? David Gillett (Sep 03)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? David Gillett (Sep 03)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? Mclaughlin, Kevin (mclaugkl) (Sep 03)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? randy marchany (Sep 03)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? Brian Epstein (Sep 03)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? Cal Frye (Sep 03)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? Kevin Wilcox (Sep 03)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? Guy Pace (Sep 03)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? Todd Humphreys (Sep 03)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? David Gillett (Sep 03)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? Plesco, Todd (Sep 03)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? Cal Frye (Sep 03)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? Mike Porter (Sep 03)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? Wayne Bullock (Sep 04)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? Barros, Jacob (Sep 04)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? Doty, Timothy T. (Sep 04)
- Re: Do you block P2P ? Mike Porter (Sep 04)
(Thread continues...)