Peer-to-Peer Information

Dickinson College has seen an increase in the number of students returning to campus with Peer-to-Peer clients installed on their computers. 

Students are prohibited from using College-provided computer/network services to:

  • Interfere with any other person's fair use of computer systems.
  • Violate any local, state or federal law.
  • Establish workgroup file sharing, print sharing or peer-to-peer services on any segment of the Dickinson campus network without approval and verification from LIS.

This is detailed in the Dickinson College’s Responsible Use Policy.

http://lis.dickinson.edu/Technology/Policies/responsibleusepolicy.htm

Peer-to-Peer clients abuse network resources as most peer-to-peer applications use any and all available bandwidth.  This can effectively slow all other intranet and Internet use to a crawl.

Peer-to-Peer clients also pose a risk of downloading copyrighted materials for which there can be legal ramifications.

A first offense for running peer-to-peer clients on your computer will result in the removal of your computer from the campus network.   Once the peer-to-peer client is removed your access will be restored. 

A second offense will result in a 2 week removal from the campus network.

A third offense will result in the removal of the computer for an entire semester. 

If you are unsure about software you are using contact helpdesk@dickinson.edu or rsa@dickinson.edu to determine if the program you are using is peer-to- peer software.