Connection: Local Schools Consider Restrictions But Aren’T Blocking Napster Use

“Heck, everyone around here uses Napster,” says Gonzaga University sophomore Erin Miciak.

“In fact, very few people on campus listen to music on stereos. It’s all on our computers.”

Miciak and thousands of college students on campuses around the area have embraced Napster like a box of brownies mailed from home. The software program delivers a steady stream of free tunes, thanks to high-speed connections provided by college administrators.

No area colleges are blocking students from using Napster on campus networks. Network managers, however, all know about Napster and all are tracking its impact on overall campus resources.

Some schools, such as Whitman College in Walla Walla, toyed briefly with a Napster-free time period. Last spring, the 1,400-student private college restricted Napster use, allowing it only from midnight to 8 a.m.

That was done to ensure the campus network operated normally during the day.

This fall, administrators have tried an easier alternative. They added a second network just for students inside campus residence halls.

All other campus administrators and faculty at Whitman use the other, Napster-free network.

“That’s one solution,” said Kevin Kelly, Whitman’s director of networks and technology.

“But they’re also hammering that network. It’s saturated 18 hours a day,” presumably with students downloading and trading computer tunes.

Kelly said that heavy use has a negative impact on students in their dorms trying to use the Net for academic work.

Whitman is considering adding a network device already in use at other schools, such as Gonzaga.

The devices are “bandwidth shapers” that can be set to reduce the volume of Napster downloads, ensuring that other users always have adequate network capacity to do their work.

GU’s use of that type of device has kept student use of Napster to a minimal problem, said Joan Allbery, director of the school’s computer services.

At Washington State University, network managers say they’re also considering devices to filter Napster.

Students there use the same network as the rest of the campus - a network with 14,000 individual accounts, said Lynn Cannon, assistant director of technology at WSU.

“We could fairly easily block and filter Napster from the network,” said Cannon.

“But that would only force students to use other applications with the same purpose.”

Those other applications, like Exchange or Gnutella, are harder to manage than Napster, he said.

“So if we blocked Napster, it would probably cause us other troubles.”