University Makes Students Take Copyright Quiz To Get Timed Access To P2P
from the as-if-that-will-work dept
Broadband Reports points us to a rather unique attempt by Missouri University of Science & Technology to deal with the fact that the RIAA/MPAA are upset with students at the university for using file sharing apps. It's using traffic shaping apps to block access to P2P systems... but, it will give students timed access if they first successfully complete a quiz about copyright issues. You need to get a perfect score (or no BitTorrent for you!) and you get six hours, which they hope you're now using for legal file sharing (though, they don't check). If you want more time, you need to ace the quiz again (the questions change). You can get up to 8 "passes" per month.It's definitely different... but hardly likely to be very effective. I'd imagine that students who really want unauthorized material will find ways around the block, using VPNs or proxies or something. Also, as Broadband Reports notes in its writeup, students who do get in can download unauthorized material and then share it internally across the network using different systems. But, most importantly, this is (yet again) based on the idea that everyone is being treated as a criminal first. There may be legitimate academic reasons for using P2P systems, but the Missouri University of Science and Technology won't be participating in many, because it's put up a barrier to usage.
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Filed Under: colleges, missouri university, p2p, quiz
Companies: missouri university
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eleete
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Who determines the correct answer?
Also does the RIAA/MPAA get the "opportunity" to be involved the development of the test questions?
It is NOT responsibility of any school to "protect" the interests of the RIAA/MPAA.
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Namely, the market for kids to write down all the answers and sell them, or perhaps write some sort of script or program that fills in the answers, and sell that. =D
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hmmmmmm
Did the school consult with an attorney first ?
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That's how we get Linux distributions...
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Ridiculous...
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First I've heard...
The administration is certainly doing their best to save us from ourselves. They've even disabled attempts to connect computer-to-computer through the network.
As for Linux distributions and such, we have a constantly updated mirror server on the network with many different distro's.
And Rapidshare is most certainly not blocked (yet).
One more thing, if a student gets a DMCA request sent against them, they are required to attend 20 hours of a course dealing with ethics and the such. Once completed, the RIAA/MPAA usually withdraw everything against the student. There was one exception this year, but that guy was very extreme.
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Lawyer Joke
The engineer replied, "But, before that, God created the heavens and earth from chaos and confusion, and thus he was the first engineer. Therefore, engineering is an older profession than medicine."
Then, the lawyer spoke up. "Yes," he said, "But who do you think created all of the chaos and confusion?"
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Criminals first?
I'm tired of hearing this "argument" - it is weak at best
how many "tests" do you have to pass in your lifetime to gain access to things? How about a driver's license?
Are you presumed a criminal first when applying for a driver's license, hence the reason for the test?
Its the same thing - if you claim the school is treating students as criminals, then the same argument could be made that states treat their residents as criminals first when it comes to driving.
The tests ensure you know what you are doing first. If you feel like a criminal because of it, then you have a guilty conscious about something and may want to seek help for it.
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Re: Criminals first?
Your argument is flawed because these situations are not the same thing. When driving, not doing so correctly can lead to someones death. When using one of these p2p networks, no death or physical injuries can result.
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Re: Criminals first?
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Re: Criminals first? AC #12
Your analogy is quite flawed.
The driver's test is to make sure that you are mature enough and understand the rules of the road. You know, for example, not to speed, how to use your turn signals, when it is okay to pass, how to read road signs, etc.
Not to mention that driving a vehicle can kill other people. You go too fast in a residential zone while you are drunk and you can easily kill somebody.
Downloading puts nobody's health in danger, including your own. So your analogy is horribly flawed.
Not to mention that there are tons of legitimate uses for P2P. If you need a few examples, try reading the comments before yours.
The MAFIAA, now along with this school, are automatically assuming that if you use P2P, you are using it to infringe on other's copyrights. Because they are assuming you are not using it for anything legal, they are now automatically blocking it.
So, as I see it, Mike's statement stands perfectly fine. It is not "weak at best" but actually a very accurate description.
Please try again.
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I'd Share
I'd setup a box and connect to it using my creditentials to allow other friends to use my 48hrs per month as I personally didn't download enough stuff for it to ever matter.
When I was in school they instituted download caps and if you broke the cap two days in a row you were restricted to something painful (56k connection I think or worse if you were a major repeat offender). This I can agree with because it's in frickin' huge text every year when you sign the network agreement form. And it was absolutely necessary to cap the Internet use because when I started in 2001 the campus internet connection would be impacted by a subset of users maing general net surfing miserable.
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Re: Criminals first?
Name me one test you have to repeatedly take for a limited use of something you are already paying for?
Driver's test? - Nope. You take a TEST to receive a LICENSE. Once you have a license, you may drive all you want unless you show yourself incompetent, in which case your license may be suspended or you may need to re-take the test.
Bar test? - Nope... same principle as above.
Black belt test? - Nope.
Astronaut training test? - Nope.
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Re: Criminals first?
Yes, and everything else too.
In the eyes of a cop, everyone is a criminal.
I suppose it is due to their having to deal with that element day after day, it can make one pessimistic.
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The other ones will cheat and still download whatever they want.
lol
Ummm, yeah - that should work good!
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Civil disobedience
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Curbing RIAA Requests...
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Re: Criminals first?
No, you're presumed incompetent with a deadly weapon. You have to show that you *do* know how to use a vehicle without killing people.
Does drunk downloading kill people?
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.............
Nishantha
Addiction Recovery Missouri
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Re: Criminals first?
Windows Spotlight Quiz. When I stated earlier, the Windows Spotlight Quiz can be a cool feature that many individuals will just be offered randomly. It doesn’t appear any time you log into your PC. visit here https://spotlight.windowsquiz.com/
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