[WEB4LIB] Kazaa/Morpheus/et.al.

[Masters, Gary E]

Not to be contrary, but is there a way to get them another line (connection,
etc.) outside the one you use?  
Otherwise, it looks like "find what they like to do and stop it."  Most are
just trying to keep the real work on track.  But to a young person it is
hard to see the difference.  So any alternative would help.  Such as "if you
have your own DSL line..."  

Just a thought.

Gary


Gary E. Masters
Librarian (Systems)
CDRH - FDA
(301) 827-6893 

	-----Original Message-----
	From:	Dan Lester [SMTP:dan at riverofdata.com]
	Sent:	Wednesday, January 30, 2002 8:13 PM
	To:	Multiple recipients of list
	Subject:	[WEB4LIB] Kazaa/Morpheus/et.al.

	I'm hoping this isn't too far off topic, so here goes.

	Like many of you, Boise State is very heavily dependent on web
access
	for some 80 databases, thousands of ejournals, and so forth.
	Increasingly we've been getting clobbered by students in dorms and
	campus apartments using Kazaa (or KaZaA to be correct) and Morpheus
	and others of that ilk.  (www.kazaa.com and www.musiccity.com for
the
	uninitiated)  (As one who's tried both, go with the latter for less
	crashing or locking up and more functionality)  (or go to
	www.afternapster.com for info on over 100 such systems)

	At the moment the university has a 15MB connection to the net (10
	T-1's worth of bandwidth).  During all times from 10AM to 2AM the
pipe
	is totally full.  It is nearly full at the other hours.  About half
of
	the total traffic is from Kazaa.  So far, for various political
	reasons, it has not been possible to get that traffic blocked.  This
	is despite the fact that we have only 1100 of our 17,000 students
	living on campus.

	I don't want to embroil the rest of you in campus issues, but am
	wondering how others have dealt with this.  Have you blocked the
Kazaa
	traffic at all times, at certain times, or never?  Have you limited
	the amount of bandwidth that you permit that traffic to use?  Have
you
	done something else?

	The campus IT guys would block it during daytimes and restrict it in
	evenings in an instant if they had permission from the highest
levels.
	Their interest is as great as the library's, since they get calls
	complaining about the inaccessibility of internet resources from
	faculty and administrators as well.  We "only" get them from library
	patrons who are trying to get a search done or an article downloaded
	so they can print and read it.

	Feel free to reply off list, and if I come up with a bunch of
results,
	I'll provide a summary.  I promise confidentiality if desired.  We
all
	have our politics and personalities, and I wouldn't want anyone to
get
	in hot water by telling "the rest of the story".

	cheers, and thanks,

	dan


	-- 
	Dan Lester, Data Wrangler  dan at RiverOfData.com 208-283-7711
	3577 East Pecan, Boise, Idaho  83716-7115  USA
	www.riverofdata.com  www.gailndan.com  Stop Global Whining!
	Be competitive, intense, and accountable.