Geneseo's Internet Connection - CopySense Appliance
What is the CopySense Appliance?
The CopySense Appliance is a system which monitors the campus network for peer-to-peer file sharing activity. The system keeps track of how much file sharing is coming from every computer on campus, and once it sees too much, it will block all web traffic from that computer until the user complies with the campus file sharing policy.
How does it work?
The CopySense Appliance monitors all campus network traffic for file sharing. The appliance block as much file sharing traffic as is technically possible. When it sees specific traffic, the computer generating that traffic earns points.
| Points | Network Activity |
| 3 | Exchange of Registered Copyrighted Content |
| 1 | Exchange of Likely Commercial Music |
| 1 | Exchange of Likely Commercial Film and TV |
| 1 | Exchange of Likely Software and Games |
| 3 | Exchange of Likely Child Sexual Content |
| 3 | Use of and Evasive P2P Client |
| 3 | Use of an Aggressive P2P Client |
When a computer has earned more than 30 points, web browsing from the computer is blocked, and all web traffic is redirected to a CIT web site. The site explains that their web connections are being blocked and shows the user the violations which earned the points. Users can then agree to abide by the campus file sharing policy and click on the "Restore Access" button. Once clicked, the user's web traffic is permitted and their points score is set to 30.
When a computer has earned more than 60 points, web browsing from the computer is blocked again. All web traffic is redirected to a CIT web site. The site explains that their web connections are being blocked and shows the user the violations which earned the points. Users can then agree to abide by the campus file sharing policy and click on the "Restore Access" button. Once clicked, the user's web traffic is permitted and their points score is set to 60. This is the last time the user will have the opportunity to click the "Restore Access" button.
When a comptuer has earned more than 90 points, ALL Internet access from that computer is blocked. Web traffic is redirected to a CIT web site. The site explains that their web connections are being blocked and shows the user the violations which earned the points. The user does not have the ability to restore their own network access. Access can only be restored by meeting with CIT Professional Staff.
Why is Geneseo doing this?
We have added the CopySense Appliance to the Geneseo network for three reasons:
1. Federal law (Higher Education Opportunity Act) requires the college to block all p2p transmissions of copyright-protected material.
2. Peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing is extremely bandwidth intensive. This means that a small number of people can monopolize the shared campus Internet connection. When this happens, academic use of the Internet by the remainder of the campus community is impded.
3. Most of the files shared using peer-to-peer file-sharing programs are protected by copyright. It is illegal to acquire copyright-protected works over p2p networks.
What does this really mean to me?
A computer will earn points for every hour that an agressive or evasive p2p client is detected. This means that in order to avoid problems, CIT discourages the use of ANY p2p file sharing applications. Remove any p2p programs you may have on your computer, including Ares, Limewire, Gnutella, Bittorrent, etc. Computers will also earn points for every copyright-protected file that is observed by the CopySense Appliance on the network. The moral of the story: Don't use p2p applications and don't download copyright-protected works! Bring your computer to the CIT HelpDesk in South Hall 225 for assistance in removing p2p software.
What if the file sharing I am doing is actually legal?
There are some legitimate uses of p2p software. Unfortunately, technology does not exist today for us to exempt these legal uses of the technology from our monitoring system. If you are wrongly identified, explain it to us, and we will understand. We may need to work together to find a comprimise situation that allows you to do what you need to do while we meet our legal obligations. Sometimes this means changing settins in your programs and applications. For example, World of Warcraft and Spyware Elminator, both legitimate applications, download updates using BitTorrent - but they don't need to. They can both be configured to download updates directly. WoW players should keep this url handy: http://us.blizzard.com/support/article/21079.
So what really happens when a computer earns more than 90 points?
When a computer earns more than 90 points, all web (http and https) traffic originating from that computer will be blocked. Access can only be restored by talking to a CIT Professional Staff member. Call the CIT HelpDesk to get a ticket into our tracking system. We will attempt to contact you to schedule an appointement to meet and discuss the issue, with the goal of restoring your network access.
Click here to vist the Audible Magic CopySense Appliance web site.
This is an example of the CopySense Appliance Network Redirect web site:
