University student Jimmy Raff said nearly every media file on his computer has been downloaded illegally.Raff, mass communication freshman and LeJeune Hall resident, said he does not think much of illegal file sharing.”I’ve read stories about it, but it seems like there’s pretty good odds that you won’t get caught,” Raff said. “I’ve been downloading for like three years and never really had a problem.”Raff is one of many students who illegally download music or use peer-to-peer networking on their computers. But an increasing trend in illegal downloading has caused many universities to crack down on their networks.At LSU the number of first-time offenses was unavailable for the 2007 academic year, but during the same period two repeat offenses were reported. Sheri Thompson, planning and communications officer for Information Technology Services, said the Recording Industry Association of America sent 29 letters to the University for copyright violations in 2007. The department received 42 so far this year, she said. Some universities around the country are becoming less tolerant than LSU, she said.”Other schools send an early settlement record and send a subpoena letter,” Thompson said. “You will get a letter from the RIAA, and you have 20 days to come up with 3,000 dollars. If you don’t have it, it goes up to 4,000 dollars.”LSU does not currently send out early settlement letters or subpoenas. Students found in violation are given a warning for a first offense and are referred to the Dean of Students for all subsequent offenses. But Thompson said LSU may begin sending the early settlement letters and subpoenas in the future if the trend of illegal downloading increases.”We haven’t done it yet, but the way things are going I think we’re bound to,” Thompson said. “Downloading a song from Kazaa [a peer-to-peer network] isn’t worth 3,000 dollars.”LSU permits students to use P2P networking in the residence halls and on the wireless network, lsusecure.”We think there’s some value to peer to peer in doing cooperative work, so we don’t want to block it entirely,” Thompson said. “We might have to do that in the future if there’s an increase in early settlement subpoenas.”Thompson said LSU does not allow P2P networking in computer labs on campus because the computers are public, making tracking users more difficult.LSU controls its server by monitoring bandwidth going to certain IP addresses, Thompson said. Students’ activity is not monitored unless their bandwidth is unusually high.”We have bandwidth shaking, so we limit the amount of files that can go to different IP addresses,” Thompson said. “We monitor your network traffic, [so] if we’re getting a bunch of scans from overseas and it doesn’t make sense, we’ll investigate.”Thompson said the department is concerned about the security of the network, not what students are doing on it. The department does not monitor content, so it does not know whether a student is on a P2P site, for example.Thompson said ITS tries to educate students about the consequences of illegally downloading on the LSU server to reduce the amount cases the Dean of Students has to hear.Eric Norman, associate dean of Student Advocacy and Accountability, said his department only sees second violations.”ITS handles all first violations,” Norman said. “Once they have another violation, they are shut off until they come see us.”Norman said students found downloading files illegally are typically put on probation for a calendar year and are required to take an ethical decision-making workshop. Though Thompson said there is an increasing trend in students downloading files illegally, Norman said he has very few violations.”We’ve only had two or three [second-time] violations in the past year,” Norman said. “Maybe there’s an increase in first violations that just never came to my office.”Norman said Ruckus, a legal program students can access for free, has contributed to the fewer number of violations, as the software only hosts legal downloads.—-Contact Ben Bourgeois at [email protected]