Piracy (1 Viewer)

[iamsickofyear12]

So I found this under the piracy policy:

The University reserves the right to check for pirated music, videos and software on non-University owned IT equipment that is connected to the University’s IT Infrastructure.

Does this mean that I shouldn't be connecting to the wireless network with my laptop with pirated songs and programs on it?

 

[ogmzergrush]

They've also been known to approach people with laptops on campus and ask if they can search them for illegal material, and last year they conducted searches on machines in uni-owned accomodation (Campus East). A magic little floppy that searches for mp3s is apparently what it equates to, but I'm not going to have a bar of it.

Personally, I was considering using the wireless network, but after this decided against it. As my machine has at no point come in contact with the University network, I don't intend on allowing any spot checks if I'm asked.

Regardless of what I may or may not have on my computer, it's none of their concern and I refuse to let them run whatever the hell they want on my system, just because they say they have the right to. GGF I say.

 

[jm1234567890]

So I found this under the piracy policy:

The University reserves the right to check for pirated music, videos and software on non-University owned IT equipment that is connected to the University’s IT Infrastructure.

Does this mean that I shouldn't be connecting to the wireless network with my laptop with pirated songs and programs on it?

if your files arent' shared they can't seen them.

most of the people warned was for putting zip drives/floopies/cds with illegeal stuff on the uni computers.

 

[ogmzergrush]

if your files arent' shared they can't seen them.

most of the people warned was for putting zip drives/floopies/cds with illegeal stuff on the uni computers.

I'm well aware of the way file sharing works. What concerns me is their spot checks, not the scanning across the network. When they come to you and ask to run their little floppy in your machine to run a search for pirated gear, that's what I see as the problem. I'd have no problem if they restricted their checking to files visible on the network, but evidently that's not good enough.

My reason for not using the network isn't so they can't see my files, it's so they have no excuse whatsoever to touch my own machine, as I have at no stage connected it to the University network.

 

[jm1234567890]

I'm well aware of the way file sharing works. What concerns me is their spot checks, not the scanning across the network. When they come to you and ask to run their little floppy in your machine to run a search for pirated gear, that's what I see as the problem. I'd have no problem if they restricted their checking to files visible on the network, but evidently that's not good enough.

My reason for not using the network isn't so they can't see my files, it's so they have no excuse whatsoever to touch my own machine, as I have at no stage connected it to the University network.

i didn't know there were spot checks.

never came across it before.

 

[iamsickofyear12]

Well I'm not connecting to the wireless network if they will then be able to search my computer.

 

[Terra_Niux]

Sounds like an invasion of privacy to me, they can search my computer all they like they won't find anything, because their crappy program can't be that sophisticated.

 

[Terra_Niux]

A good idea would be to use an older operating system like Windows 98 only because if you go into a command prompt and rename a directory with a special character such as ╞ the actual operating system cannot access it, delete it or even search for files in it because 98 only uses a certain character set. Don't forget to remove the character in the command prompt when you want to access the folder however . You can incorporate the whole renaming process into a batch file to make the process easier, I guarentee that it hides folders, this does not work in 2000 or XP however. But DOES work in the command prompt, so if their program works in the command prompt, that's a bit of a problem.

Another idea would be to use a Unix operating system and jail any user accounts other than root of course. The reason is that their program may only be compatible with Windows and not Unix. When they ask to login as root deny them that permission saying that them logging in as root is a risk as a setup can be easily stuffed if they don't know what they're doing.

Well those are some ideas anyway.

 

[Terra_Niux]

Haha, okay well a Unix OS would include Linux or BSD. If you are using XP there are some programs out there that will hide directories, search for Hide Folders XP and I think the other is Folder Guard Pro, i'm pretty sure once you hide the folders with those programs you can't search for files or anything. The only way to acquire access to the folders is to unlock the folders with the program which requires a password. Also if you are in safe mode, the programs won't work and full access to the folders is given.

That's all I can recommend really.

 

[ogmzergrush]

For reference the program apparently only runs on Windows based machines, and (was) stored on a floppy, so if you don't have either of those you're in the green. I also heard of people refusing the check with no repercussions, so they can't be that serious about busting people (Besides, if they really wanted to catch people they'd be far better off hunting people with mp3 players) .

Seeing as I also see it as a huge invasion of privacy, in the event that it comes up I intend to refuse. I've passworded my laptop at both the bios and login, and while these are both easily bypassed they will allow me more than enough time to crack some heads and retreat into the night.

That said, I'm not sure how much of an issue this is now. The checks were conducted last year around the time when multiple Australian universities were busted for having pirate material easily available across their networks, and were fined accordingly. At this point UoW issued a reminder to students that this isn't legal, and the checks were conducted to attempt to ensure that similar activities weren't going on at UoW.

Not that this excuses what I see as an invasion of privacy, but it may be that the University did this in a knee-jerk reaction to ensure that they weren't also liable. If that's the case, I'd assume things have calmed down somewhat since then, though it doesn't hurt to be ready just in case it flares up again. Certainly I don't recall hearing of any checks outside the fortnight or so in which these were conducted, though that's not to say that they haven't happened.

Yeah, I think that covers it, you probably shouldn't worry too much, just make sure you're ready to deal with it if it ever happens again

 

[santaslayer]

wow...the uow king himself never knew of such bullcrap...

does pirated material involve crap like mp3s d/l via programs such as winmx????

 

[ogmzergrush]

wow...the uow king himself never knew of such bullcrap...

does pirated material involve crap like mp3s d/l via programs such as winmx????

Yes, yes it does

 

[Arvin Sloane]

Sounds like an invasion of privacy to me....

You have no privacy. Don't forget that.