What's the current situation regarding ITS and ResNet, etc?

[Tartarus]

I'm holding a conditional offer for next year, and i figured it would be a good idea to do a bit of background research about what's going on with the traffic shaping and so on. And of course there's the AUP that is good and vague

Since all the common sharing methods are going to be obviously be blocked, i was wondering what's been going on with people being caught using DC++. From a quick search i've seen that a couple of times people have been fined for it, but that was back in 05/06. Since TWOFO seems to be very much still active, i was wondering if ITS have backed down a bit?

I've had a look through the wiki, and i guess it's simply a matter of blocking external connections and praying?

FWIW, i'll be using a Mac and i've got plenty of stuff that i'm happy to bring along to share..

[astropoint]

Basically ITS didn't cut anybody off this year (and at this point in the year it is fairly safe to suspect they aren't going to bother). We have no idea whether this was due to them simply being too busy or whether they have backed off somewhat. But when they were cutting off in 05/06 and 06/07 they cut alot of people off. I don't know of any exact figures for the whole year, but I remember the number 200 being floated around at about Easter and I suspect it was alot more by the end of the respective years.
They are doing an "overhaul" of the network over the summer so might be more inclined to be monitoring stuff next year....or then again they might not.

As you say, basically all forms of p2p on resnet are blocked and by far the best way to approach twofo is to block external connections (I know there is a guide for the mac firewall, but nobody bothered with it this year so we have no idea how well it works), and as you say, hope. Much as I don't want to sound too bleak, there is no foolproof way of protecting yourself if you use twofo.

Having said that you are more than welcome on the hub, along with as many people as you can tell

[Rampage]

Regarding the mac firewall I checked with two people that it has worked, but both said the speeds were slower which is a bit strange.

But hopefully we can get someone to test it properly and improve the guide if need be.

[Tartarus]

Mac isn't entirely necessary due to the addition of bootcamp, so i'm free to run it via XP or Vista. But thanks for the info, i guess the easiest way would be to wait and see what the situation is like a few weeks in and how they're dealing with it.

You mention an overhaul? Any idea what that's likely to include?

Yep, i'm just glad there are people that are willing to sidestep the fascist regime that is JaNET

With regards to the fines, are you subject to a disconnection period after you've paid up? (since no doubt they'll just fob you off like they did a couple of years ago if you try to appeal)

[astropoint]

I don't know what it involves. They were canvassing people for ideas this year and the only word that has been said is overhaul so it could be anything.

Standard fine + punishment has been £50 and 28 days offline, the time offline being the real killer. Near the end of 06/07 they did start doing a warning email first if caught rather than a complete and very sudden cut off though.
Some of the people who were cut off near the beginning of they year were able to appeal to get the fine back as later people were given the warning (and because there were people being disconnected for having the wrong box ticked in skype), but the disconnection period always stood, regardless of when you paid the fine as part of it all.

[Rampage]

With regards to the overhaul, they plan to restructure the whole network replacing all the switches and cabling I think. I don't think it will be done by the time you start. Its quite an intensive project and from what I understand they haven't started the plans as yet, they are still collecting data ...

I think its a 30 day disconnection, but not entirely sure, you are best off reading the AUP next year.

But like you said its best judging the situation when you get there. Again the best thing to do is block off campus users, which you can do in a mac using ipfw, the default firewall. Hopefully if no external bandwidth is being used by DC they won't bother with things.

[Tartarus]

Ouch.. that's nearly half your term time!

Are you still allowed to use on-campus facilities (so just not in your room) or is it a blanket ban?

[Rampage]

I suppose on campus facilities will be usable. They seem just to block the one port to your room.

I wouldn't start worrying about this too much now. Lets see how the situation is in September.

[astropoint]

They just unplug the wire as good as to your bedroom (so no computer works from the port), and don't disable your account or anything.

But I'm with Rampage, there's nothing you can do now other than wait and see what they do next year. They will start with scare tactics (flyers etc) about how bad P2P is as they have done that every year to discourage people. Also you can ignore any stories about people who get worse punishments than what we have described. There's always one twit going round saying how he knows somebody who has a friend in a corridor where a guy got thrown out of the Uni for it and it's always utter rubbish.

[Tartarus]

Yep no problem, i just want to be clear on what the current situation is first - be prepared eh?

Just one general question though, if it's all internal, how do you connect to off-campus accomodation? I was thinking about joining the network now since i've easily got 10 gigs of stuff to share around, but if you need to be on the resnet, then that might obviously be a problem!

[Rampage]

Umm, you don't connect to off campus users from ResNet. Its the using of external bandwidth that may cause them monitoring stuff more. Best thing is where Resnet users share only with Resnet users and similarly with Off Campus users

[Tartarus]

Ah, ok, i was wondering about that one - makes sense now

Yeah, obviously you don't want to be arousing that kind of suspicion

Where do they draw the line though? I mean if you're buying movies from iTunes are they likely to kick you?

[astropoint]

There are a few of us off campus on the hub perfectly safe from ITS so you can join now if you want. Just connect to hub.twofo.co.uk:4144 They have no way of telling if somebody off campus goes on campus or anything and whilst off campus you are a long way from their jurisdiction and you are more than welcome.

There are basically just two subsets of people on the hub, those off campus, who can share with off campus people, and those on resnet...who can share with people on resnet. I myself have been off campus since 2006 and still been on the hub.

Downloading from itunes etc is perfectly legal and just uses http bandwidth so is virtually indistinguishable from most other traffic so you are fine with that. They can just tell the difference between files being downloading on DC++/torrents etc and would go after you for using them if you were caught.

[Zed0]

They just unplug the wire as good as to your bedroom (so no computer works from the port), and don't disable your account or anything.

They also filter your MAC address though thats trivial to change.

[astropoint]

They also filter your MAC address though thats trivial to change.

Didn't know they went as far as that. Certainly when I was there they weren't doing it as I was able to connect through Kat's connection for a month or so before my own got reconnected so perhaps that was a new thing in your year.