The Chronicle: Daily news: 04/04/2002 -- 02
New Software Blocks Trades of Music and Video Files Outside the Campus Network
By SCOTT CARLSONCall it diet KaZaA -- plenty of file-sharing power, less bandwidth hassle.
A new file-sharing program called Phynd is burrowing in at a handful of
universities, including the University of Connecticut, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Unlike KaZaA and other file-sharing programs, which allow users to find and trade MP3 files or video files across the Internet, Phynd limits its searches and its users to computers on the network on which the program is running. University of Connecticut students, for example, won't find an MP3 on a computer in Illinois; and an MP3 hunter at the University of Chicago can't get access to the Phynd search engine at UConn.
Phynd's local orientation is good news for college computer-system officers and for students who want to get a quicker MP3 fix. File sharing can clog an institution's connection to the Internet, forcing activity to a near halt. But many internal campus networks are significantly more robust than their Internet connections.
Paul Kobulnicky, vice chancellor for information services at Connecticut, calls Phynd an "interesting adaptation" in the ever-evolving world of file sharing. MP3-hungry students often dodge university-imposed bandwidth restrictions to get digitized music and video. "What you're finding is that kids are aware of the effect that they are having on local networks, but they are also aware of what we are doing to control it," Mr. Kolbulnicky says. "Whatever it is they want to share, they've realized that they can share it more effectively if they localize it."
Brent Holden, a junior and computer-engineering major, set up a Phynd server "as a hobby" in his dormitory room at UConn. According to statistics on the Phynd page, about 350,000 searches for MP3 files have been performed through Mr. Holden's server since late February. By comparison, the Phynd server at the Rochester Institute of Technology has performed about 17,000 searches.
"I didn't mean for it to get as popular as it did," Mr. Holden says.
The University of Connecticut shut down Mr. Holden's server for a few days to study the situation, then allowed it to go back up. Mr. Kobulnicky says that servers are allowed to exist at the university if they don't serve material to users outside of the network. The rule is meant to thwart use of the university network for commercial ventures. He says people often run servers inside the network for clearly educational purposes.
Although Phynd's local orientation makes it easier on an institution's Internet connection than other file-sharing programs, it's unclear whether that makes the program more acceptable from a legal perspective.
"It's a totally different legal realm when you're talking about a local-area network as opposed to the entire Internet," Mr. Holden asserts. Because you might know the person who's downloading an MP3 off your computer, he says, "the rules are a little different."
"It's still peer-to-peer file sharing, but it could be the friend right across the hall from you or another person in your dorm," he says.
Brendan P. Conte, one of Phynd's developers, agrees. "The whole legal issue, as I interpret it, is opening sharing to everyone," says Mr. Conte, a senior majoring in computer science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "At least that's what I'm hoping," he adds. Mr. Conte says that there is a dormant portion of the Phynd program that will support off-campus sharing, "but if you enable it, you're going to be liable for what happens."
However, not everyone is so sure that keeping sharing local makes it legal. "Our institution's position is that sharing is sharing, and if it's illegal at any point it's illegal at all points," Mr. Kobulnicky says. The exclusive nature of Phynd "raises a specter that bothers me," he says, because it doesn't allow copyright owners to see the use and availability of their material on the network. He wonders if that opens up universities to different kinds of lawsuits than they have faced as a result of earlier file-sharing activity.
"I kind of like having the rights owner being able to poke around and find violations," Mr. Kobulnicky adds. "That way, the rights owner isn't wondering what kind of violations are going on inside my operation."
The Recording Industry Association of America also disapproves of Phynd. In a statement, Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the recording industry, said "the software appears to facilitate the unauthorized copying and distribution of music and other protected content."
"We find this extremely disturbing -- simply restricting this kind of file sharing to a particular network does not make it any less wrong. We would hope that the faculty of the university, who understand the value of protecting copyrighted works, would help put a stop to this. We will discuss this and decide what the best follow-up course of action is."
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