Residence Life warns students about software piracy in dorms

"When you purchase a piece of software, you do not own that software. You have purchased the right to use the software," said Steve Gilmore, assistant director of the Department of Residence Life.

The department recently issued an e-mail warning about sharing software to users of the ethernet network, called ResComp. Use of the network is limited to students who live on campus in a residence hall.

Violations of federal copyright laws, typically considered software piracy, are usually handled by the corporation that owns the copyright.

"We take every instance of piracy very seriously. It is theft," said Mark Murray, public relations spokesman for Microsoft Corp. "First, we try to reduce the problem through education, but there is always the possibility of prosecution."

With the setup of the ResComp network, a user's hard drive can be made available to all other users of the network. However, a user would need to open his or her programs for sharing in order for another individual to obtain information from the user's hard drive.

Students who are connected to the system have the ability to open and share certain programs on their computers, Gilmore said.

He said students can place a password on their programs in order to share with only those who have been given the password. However, this is still a violation of federal copyright laws if the programs are copyrighted and have been purchased by and for a single user.

"The department encourages sharing programs that students design or information that is not copyrighted," Gilmore said.

Some of the programs being shared are "Adobe Photoshop," "Aldus Pagemaker" and other copyrighted programs. Students are also sharing games, such as Microsoft's "Doom" and "Quake," according to the e-mail message sent to all network users.

In addition to general programs being shared, students are also sharing pornographic photographs over the network, Gilmore said.

Gilmore said this is a violation of Residence Life community standards. He stated a large part of the problem is that students who are under 18 years old have access to the pornography. Gilmore equated the sharing of pornography to placing a Playboy Magazine photograph on a person's dorm door.

Gilmore said the e-mail warning was sent to users of the system to control the problem. He said it is possible to share programs and not be aware that you are doing so. Gilmore also warned that people other than the computer owner can activate the sharing option.

"The sharing option can be activated without a person's knowledge. However, the option must be intentionally activated," Gilmore said.

While Residence Life seems to be taking the problem of sharing very seriously, not all students see it in the same manner.

"It (the e-mail warning) was the joke of the week on my wing," said Dana Jan, a management information systems sophomore and Kaibab-Huachuca Hall resident.

Jan said he did not have any trouble with sharing since the majority of his sharing involves programs he has developed.

"I don't have a tendency to share with the general public," Jan said.

Gilmore is hoping that the warning, the only one students will receive, will be sufficient to end the problem of sharing.

Jan said that he thinks the warning will have the opposite effect.

"I think it will make people more rebellious," Jan said. "I think that people will see it as more of a drive to keep sharing."