Well, in the case mentioned, merely having the software installed on the system does not affect the network. Just with the software installed, there is no bandwidth hogging, there is no P2P usage. I can see a student using his personal property, e.g., a laptop, at his parents' house, and using P2P on his parents' Internet connection.
> If the student feels unduly restricted, they > can either not participate, or secure their own high bandwidth > connection. Many fine wireless services exist and constitute a > reasonable alternative for a student who wants to retain his or her > control over their computer. If the student wants to use the facility > provided, they must abide by the rules. Res Republica. So, when are we starting to ban books? "The public has more interest in the punishment of an injury than he who receives it" Cato The software is "merely installed" is not a complete statement of the facts. There is a high probability that this leads foreseeably (sp?) to use of the "merely installed" software. Certainly a case can be made that it is the responsibility of the student to make sure it's not in use. How about this as a compromise? Leave the software, run Nessus on the LAN. When (and I mean when, not if) the student's computer begins generating traffic that indicates he or she is abusing the facility with P2P software, their connection is terminated until they pay a fine equal to the value of excess bandwidth used and maybe reasonable compensation to the other responsible users for the degraded facility. No excuses. Pick up a worm that shouts on our network? Pay a fine. Use P2P? Pay a fine. Allow a friend to use your machine and the idiot zombies your machine and you use huge gobs of bandwidth? Pay a fine. The world of Ayn Rand is fair but not kind or forgiving. I absolutely believe that you should not restrict freedom in a misguided effort to protect society, but I also believe that we need to use some judgment and consider that we want to best serve all our users. And btw, there is no reasonable expectation of privacy on a device that you hook up to an Ethernet network. You may have the right to privacy (I don't know the law on this) but it is not reasonable, in most cases, to expect it on an Ethernet connected computer. As for banning books, try citing the Bible in your psych class as a guide to human behavior and you will swiftly discover, academia already bans books. Cheers, Dan S.
