A new policy aimed at maintaining security on the Penn computer network may also make students who download illegally more vulnerable to legal action.
Starting this year, students living in on-campus housing, fraternities, sororities or the Sansom towers must undergo a new process to register their computers on the Penn network. As before, students are asked to consult an Information Technology Adviser to assist in purging viruses and worms from their computers. After that, students simply plug in their Ethernet cables and register for the new system --called NetReg -- to access the Penn network.
NetReg requires linking one's Penn identification number with the unique MAC address of the computer with which the network is accessed. The primary purpose of this system is to protect network users against hackers. NetReg does not scan computers on the network.
"NetReg allows us to quickly identify a computer that is ... causing a network outage in an entire college house," Associate Director of Computing Marilyn Spicer said in an e-mail interview.
Once a hacker is pinpointed, the resident whose computer has been hacked is notified and assisted in ridding the computer of the problem.
However, NetReg could potentially serve a different purpose.
With the ability to trace network users to specific machines comes the ability to trace those who commit illegal actions. This development could play a key role in legal action taken against students. In the past, lawsuits by the Recording Industry Association of America have come to an end because -- under Penn's old system of network registration -- no specific computer could be identified and users could not be traced to machines.
"Some NetReg information may potentially make it more likely that the University will be required to respond to any valid [file-sharing] complaints," Spicer said.
Indeed, Engineering junior Duc-Minh Nguyen -- who lives in Harnwell College House -- said letting Penn gather information on network users was a "legitimate concern" for him. A member of of the Dining Philosophers -- Penn's student chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery -- added that this policy "makes it a lot easier to get a lawsuit against" students who illegally download, even if it were not created "specifically for that reason."
He added that it made him "a lot more cautious about what [he'll] download."
Cornell University has implemented an alternative means of accessing its network for students living on campus. Instead of relying on an ITA to aid in scanning computers for viruses, users plug their computers in and are walked through an automated scan. Steve Schuster, the director of IT security at Cornell, said that this scan checks each computer for potentially dangerous programs or lack of security, then guides users through the purging process. IT at Cornell "makes no judgment about file sharing," he said.
What is NetReg? - Mandatory process for students living in on-campus housing accessing the Penn network - Links Penn identification numbers to the unique MAC address of the computer with which users access the network - Primarily serves to protect network users against hackers by pinpointing network problems to specific computers - Ability to trace users could make students who download illegally more vulnerable to legal action from the Recording Industry Association of America, as previous legal action came to an end when specific computers could not be identified under the old registration system
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