[Web4lib] Limewire

[Andrew Hankinson]

You might also want to take into account the financial impact of bandwidth
usage.  P2P systems are pretty hard on networks, especially upload quotas.
I would not label it as a 'bad' technology, but it can have a significant
impact on your bottom line.

On 3/6/07, Micah Stevens <micah at raincross-tech.com> wrote:
>
>
> On 03/06/2007 08:33 AM, Jane Frasier wrote:
> > We are fairly liberal in allowing users to download and use programs
> > from the internet because we use Deep Freeze and the computers are
> > restarted between each patrons' use. Limewire has been quite popular
> > lately. Are we opening up a can of worms allowing this to be used on our
> > public computers? What are the risks?
> >
> >
> The primary risk is that the files the user is receiving are coming from
> unknown and therefore untrusted sources. One could be downloading
> anything from anywhere, including mislabeled files that are trojan
> horses, as well as copyrighted materials. With the RIAA being sue-happy
> lately I would be concerned about legal action from them or other such
> groups if your users are downloading music or movies with your hardware,
> even if it's erased in-between uses. The legal precedents for such
> things are still in their infancy. Any legal action would cost your
> organization money as well, even if it doesn't result in a 'win' for the
> suing organization.
>
> Although I hate to label a technology as bad, to be safe I'd have a
> tendency to disallow P2P file sharing on these units. Or at the very
> least have a policy that requests the user not use such technology to
> try and buffer yourself from legal claims. I'm not a lawyer so I have no
> idea how effective that would be, although I've seen the technique used
> before.
>
> -Micah
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