I’d like to respond to the recent articles written about network misuse at Northeastern. It’s been a problem for a while at Northeastern, yet this is the first time that it’s been publically acknowledged that there are people “misusing” the network. As a senior, I’ve been through many different residence halls. I’ve lived in Loftman, Willis, West, and Davenport. My freshman year, there were no such problems with downloading. People had respect for the network, and though Napster and peer-to-peer software was new, people didn’t abuse it.

Today, it’s a completely different story. Freshmen come into Northeastern with the expectations that they can use it as much as they damn well please; download several movies, thousands of songs, and it doesn’t interrupt service anywhere else. Get real. As someone that deals with computers, I know the effects that this can have on a network. By people hogging up bandwidth (space that’s provided over the network for you to download material), you are essentially shutting down part of the network. That’s one person. Multiply that by thousands of people doing it at all hours during the day, and essentially the network shuts down because it can’t handle the demand people are placing on it.

File sharing was shut off for about two years, as the servers and lines couldn’t handle the flow of information coming in and out of Northeastern. So, Northeastern decides to invest money into a new line, which in turn, costs students more money. Yes, it is worth the extra money, but think about it. If you didn’t abuse it in the first place, there would be no need for this. While I’m all for a faster line and capabilities to download at a faster pace, don’t go overboard. These so-called “top talkers” are totally taking advantage of a very valuable resource. The Internet isn’t free in the real world. Not everyone is going to have a T1 when they graduate and move out of their houses.

If you want to abuse your AT’T Broadband connection at home, go right ahead. But when thousands of students rely on steady Internet service as a way to communicate, do research and keep on top of things; don’t be selfish and start downloading tons of new movies and songs. Think about what you’re doing.

I’m not saying I haven’t downloaded material, but I do monitor it. These file sharing services are ridden with viruses. Once you get one and share it out, other people get them. The library offers free anti-virus software if you need it. Just bring a CD-R or a zip disk in there and they can help you. Have respect for the other people on campus and watch how much you’re downloading.

– Nick Mantia is a senior journalism major.