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Office of the Associate Vice President for Technology

Network Traffic Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

Updated 11/17/00

The following questions were submitted via e-mail concerning the use of campus network resources for high volume activities related to digital music and video files.

I ordered ADSL through GTE and ISU to download large music files. Should I cancel the service? The only reason I'm paying $32.50/month for this service is to download these files.

Reply: The only action the campus took was to reduce the amount of network traffic available at anyone time for Scour activity. We have taken no action on any other applications for music and video. You can still download music files. We are just asking you to use some restraint so that we can all do the various activities we need to do over the campus Internet service.

Why can't you limit the access to Napster as you did with Scour? I'm just curious. Thanks.

Reply: Napster doesn't work like Scour does so we can't set limits. The only choice we had in February for Napster was to block. In the future we may be able to revisit this as our software management tools for the network improve.

As a student of ISU, I would like to know what kind of steps you are taking to ensure that all services provided on the Internet will be available. I pay $50 dollars a semester to have access to ResNet and will be very unhappy with the restricting or monitoring of Internet usage.

Reply: As noted in the email to students, we are working very hard to continue to increase our network performance through hardware and software upgrades and new technology. It is for this reason that we took no further action since February toward downloading and sharing of music and video files. It is only this past week, due to extreme traffic on one application, Scour, that we had to take action to bring network demand under control. And, we used the most conservative strategy possible by choosing to limit rather than block. The ResNet fee is $25 per semester; $50 for two semesters.

Why have you placed a ban on Napster? Is this because of the amount of network traffic it causes, or is this in fear of being sued? If in fear of being sued, remember the Safe Harbour Act, where an ISP is not responsible for the actions of its users. Illinois State University is essentialy an ISP provider for all of its students that use its services.

Reply: Napster actions were strictly because of bandwidth consumption, and not copyright or content issues. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as you noted, does not require an ISP to track copyright issues among its users. We are only required to take action if a recording company, for example, were to find that someone on campus was distributing copyrighted materials and the company or artist contacted us about the issue.

I am replying to your email about not downloading music because that it ties up the network. I will continue to download on both of my computers all day everyday using Napster, Scour or whatever else I want to.

Reply: The campus Appropriate Use Policy for our network and electronic resources, a policy that all users agree to when they accept their ISU Internet accounts, does not permit any one person to excessively use the campus resources to the detriment of other students.

Has the school considered voluntary rationing of site usage? I'm sure most students would rather use these sites at predetermined times than not have them at all. Weekends, in particular, when instructors do not need the Internet for class purposes, might be useful.

Reply: That is what we hope to accomplish by listing the applications that we are monitoring in order to encourage volunteer rationing or conservative use of music and video files. (Monitoring does not mean individual computer monitoring, by the way. We only monitor overall usage of an application campus wide.) The idea of posting the best times for downloading music files (when network volume is likely to be at a minimum) is a good one and we will start posting this on the web site. At the moment, the hours after midnight until noon each day are good times to use for downloading large files; also, weekends up until early Sunday evening.

What does it mean to "limit sources" such as Scour? Does this mean that we won't be able to access them or there are only certain hours that we can access them? Thanks.

Reply: This means that we will set aside only a certain percentage of the total network at any one time that can be used by those doing Scour applications. You will be able to access them at all hours, but only within the amount of network access available. This is sort of like saying that one lane is open to Scour activity on the network; all other lanes are used for other Internet applications.

Does limiting use and such only apply to the dorms? I subscribe to DSL service off campus and I'm curious if this applies to off campus residents as well. Thanks.

Reply: This applies to every campus user, students, staff, faculty, on-campus and off-campus users.

I have difficulty dialing up to the ISU server because it's always busy. I hope students realize that their behavior effects students everywhere on campus. It's unfortunate that those who need to use the Internet for educational purposes aren't able to or are having difficulty logging on to the server because of those that are always on-line to download music, videos, or whatever it is they do. I just wanted to share my opinion with you and let you know that the email had an impact on me, so perhaps others will realize the reality of this problem as well.

Reply: Understanding and volunteer conservation of our resources is the best solution we have to ensuring that our network functions well for all of us. Thanks.

If ISU does not have the bandwidth to support unfettered access to the entire Internet, I suggest that it take one of three actions to remedy the situation: 1) Add more network capacity, 2) Reduce the connections on campus, or 3) full refunds should be issued for all patrons of the resnet service. I feel that the student is entitled to full Internet access that he/she is paying for.

Reply: Like any ISP, there will always be limits to our physical ability to deliver Internet service, no matter how many dollars we spend on the bandwidth issue. We are working very hard at finding new solutions to improve the traffic the campus can handle. That is why we were able to "limit" and not block the Scour application. The is why we replaced a good deal of hardware this past year where our Internet circuits enter the campus to improve the volume we could handle at any one time. By this time next year, we will be several steps up in both network capacity and the sophistication of our software to manage network needs. But, even with that, we will never be ahead of network capacity demands.

Twenty-five dollars ($25) a semester for Internet access in the residence halls, by the way, is only about $5 per month compared to off-campus ISP access which typically runs $20 to 30 per month. Furthermore, this is a direct connection to the Internet; not modem or ADSL access. The University provides funding far beyond what it takes in from ResNet fees, spending over $500K a year for access fees, hardware upgrades, and personnel just to provide Internet service to the campus. This does not include the cost of expanding and maintaining the wiring infrastructure for the campus network.

What does ISU have as far as connections to the internet, multiple T1s, a T3 etc. What's the specific capacity? What is the actual bandwidth coming in and going out?

Reply: Internet connectivity is available to users attached to ISUnet through a pair of circuits provided by two ISPs (Internet Service Providers): Genuity and the ICN (Illinois Century Network). By using both of these circuits, the University can balance the load of Internet traffic between multiple service providers and more reliably survive network outages. The University connects to Genuity using a frame relay circuit. This circuit has a guaranteed rate of 10.5Mb/s and a maximum rate of 21Mb/s if there is capacity within the Genuity frame relay network. Genuity was previously known as GTE Internetwork Services or BBN Planet. The University also connects to the ICN (Illinois Century Network) using an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) circuit. At this time, this ATM circuit is limited to a maximum of 7.5Mb/s by contract with the ICN. The University also peers with local Internet service providers to allow local networks to exchange traffic without sending it through expensive Internet circuits. The University peers with RMI using an ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) circuit to provide student apartment complexes with connectivity to ISUnet. This ADSL circuit is limited to a maximum of 1.544Mb/s with a guaranteed rate of service of 768Kb/s in both directions. Although RMI is an ISP for these apartment complexes, RMI is not an ISP for the University.

My Interpretation of the Appropriate Use Policy is: uploading copyrighted information (such as mp3 files) is illegal but downloading them is legal. Is this Correct? Can you provide a web site that explains this in more detail?

Reply: Milner Library provided the following response to this question: Uploading copyrighted information is illegal, but the issue of downloading is largely dependent on intent of use. Downloading a limited amount of material for one's personal use can fall within fair use guidelines, especially for educational purposes. Downloading information for further distribution or for profit does not.

    There are several sites that offer readable interpretations of copyright law. One of the best is the Copyright Management Center. This site is maintained by Kenny Crews, lawyer and librarian, one of the foremost authorities on copyright law for libraries. Within his site is a good Checklist for Fair Use for determining if a particular activity falls within fair use. Another general site is the Educational Cyber Playground.

    While not for the faint of heart, the full text of the current copyright law can be found at Copyright Law of the United States.

    The following are additional sites that pertain primarily to music and copyright law: