Re: How do you handle the P2P problem?

[Willis Marti <wmarti () TAMU EDU>]

...
> Once P2P shows that its
> primary use is for legal filesharing, I'll change my stand on it.
>
> I agree that sound policies are arrived at by discussion across the
> university and I find the views expressed here very interesting and
> informative. But, are we really going to say that P2P as currently used is
> okay because telephones are okay? I prefer to think that we can decide to
> block P2P on campus, legal though it may be, as a method of discouraging
> illegal file sharing without having to shut down our switchboards as well to
> discourage drug deals.
>
> Bruce Purcell
> Cal State Hayward
 The legal uses of P2P are rarely heard, because they are not 'sexy' or
political. We could exchange opinions on how much legal usage is "enough",
or even whether its primary use has to be shown to be legal, without
changing many opinions.
 But how about listening to a Federal Judge (from California, even)?
"It is undisputed that there are substantial noninfringing uses for the
 (Grokster and Morpheus) software - e.g., distributing movie trailers, free
 songs or other non-copyrighted works; using the software in countries where
 it is legal; or sharing the works of Shakespeare,"
Judge Stephen Wilson

Cheers,
 Willis Marti
 Associate Director for Networking
 Computing & Information Services
 Texas A&M University

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