Napster okay at CSULB

Napster, the controversial music file-swapping program is still being used at Cal State Long Beach despite being banned by other universities, said Steve La with information technology services Thursday.

The program has been banned at 34 percent of U.S. colleges and universities, according to a report released by the Gartner Group two weeks ago.

"There are some other programs that are similar to Napster, but we haven't had a problem with traffic yet," said La, director of network services for ITS. "We are keeping a close eye on the situation and we would take action if it became a problem."

Of the 50 colleges chosen for their amount of Internet traffic and visibility, 17 have banned the use of the program.

"Most of the colleges that banned Napster had traffic issues, said P.J. McNealy, Gartner, senior analyst of ITS. "Those that did not, increased bandwidth and also increased education for possible copyright violations."

At CSULB Napster traffic is not great enough to cause problems for school computers, said La.

"We have plenty of bandwidth and a majority of Napster traffic happens at night so it does not interfere with normal school operations," La said.

Though there are many programs similar to Napster popping up to take its place, McNealy said that only two schools have put up firewalls to block access to all music swapping programs.

Of the other local universities participating in the survey, USC banned the program and UCLA allows it.

The potential for liability from schools is outlined by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, passed in 1998.

"If a school has an Internet Service Provider that acts passively, they should be safe, but once they start banning programs for copyright violations, they run the risk of legal liability," McNealy said.