FAQ’s – Information & Library Services http://www.bates.edu/ils Wed, 15 Feb 2017 18:57:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.3 File Sharing FAQ’s http://www.bates.edu/ils/2011/how-do-i/network/file-sharing-faqs/ Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:36:23 +0000 http://www.bates.edu/ils/?p=1087 File Sharing situation at Bates College

Some Questions and Answers

There are some recurring questions regarding our efforts to inform users about the risks of illegal file sharing on campus, and the steps we take to reduce the impact of this kind of activity. While we are not giving legal advice, we can clarify how Bates handles these situations.

For all users: [for faculty]

  1. How will Bates protect my rights if I am accused by a copyright owner?

    When Bates receives complaints from copyright owners regarding alleged illegal activity on IP addresses, we identify the users involved, forward the complaints to them, and require them to take down the content and let us know when that process is complete. We take additional measures (such as terminating the network connection) if the user doesn’t respond or remove the file within a specified time frame, and we take additional disciplinary steps if we find repeat offenders. We protect the identity of our computer users, and will not release the name of the user to the copyright owner unless we are presented with a valid subpoena or court order. If we are presented with a valid subpoena, we will comply with its requirements. In any case, you are individually accountable to the RIAA or any copyright holder, and Bates cannot protect you from that.

  2. I pay a lot to come to Bates. Haven’t I paid for the right to do whatever I want on the network?

    You can expect to use your fair share of the computer resources on the campus and you can expect Bates to treat information on the network in a confidential way. However, you must obey the law, and your use of the network should not limit the use of others. Bates also must comply with the law or we put at risk our ability to provide a network for you. The Internet is not a private network. You should know that your communications could be monitored by anyone who knows how to do it, and files can be tracked. Complying with the law is not just the right thing to do, it is also a good way to avoid risk.

  3. What if I used a P2P file-sharing program before and the MP3’s are still on my hard drive?

    If you have illegally obtained files on your computer, you should remove them. Don’t figure that you are smarter than the large companies who are willing to spend a lot of money to protect their property and find such files.

  4. Will Bates inspect my computer?

    As a network service provider, we are responsible for making the network available to you. You are responsible for the contents of your files. ILS administrators cooperate with law enforcement authorities in investigation of crimes that involve the Bates network or Bates computers. We also cooperate with College officials investigating violations of College policy. We are authorized to inspect the contents of files if needed to carry out our responsibilities to maintain the network. If we uncover illegal activity in such an investigation or in routine network maintenance work we will take the appropriate steps. If we identify materials that appear to be illegal on Bates-owned computers, we will disable access to the materials until we can determine with the user if proper permissions have been secured. If we identify such materials on personal computers connected to the Bates network, we will inform the user and take additional steps as necessary. We take comparable steps if violations of College policy are discovered. The College may take additional disciplinary steps under student, faculty or staff policies.

  5. What if I’ve already purchased the material?

    Whatever rights you have to individual use of CDs, DVDs or other digital materials, they usually do not include the right to share copies of them with others, unless you have permission of the copyright owner. If you have files on systems that can be publicly accessible to others, you should remove them. Copyright owners are really interested in finding people who are illegally sharing their property.

  6. Can I setup an FTP account to share files?

    How you share the files is beside the point. Whether P2P or FTP, if you are sharing files illegally, you open yourself and others to enormous risk. In addition, most FTP connections are insecure; using them opens your network account and your files to any number of risk factors.

  7. What if I have full consent to share the copyrighted material, can I then share it?

    If you have permission to share the material, by all means go ahead. You should be aware of the steps we take to limit the impact of computers that are consuming an extraordinary amount of Internet resources. If you have a legitimate need to share files and find your access is limited, please contact Help Desk Services so we can discuss your needs.

  8. I own the software/music files already, but I do not have the proper software to back up the CDs on my computer, so I want to download the file(s) from a P2P application. Why are you stopping me? This is legit after all.

    You may have rights to back up your legally obtained copies. This usually does not give you the right to get another copy from someone who does not have the right to share it. If you want to download the material from the producer’s web site and can legally do it, go ahead. Typically, a P2P application will not be the tool to do this.

  9. OK. I’ll just share materials with my friends on the campus network and not on the Internet. What’s wrong with that?

    You should be aware that some of the copyright owners have specifically targeted on-campus distribution. If you are sharing something without permission of the owner you are putting yourself, and perhaps others, at risk.

Especially for Faculty Members: [for all users]

  1. What techniques does the College recommend to share materials with my class? Isn’t sharing this material the same as the illegal file sharing you are talking about?

    Information and Library Services has several methods that can be used to make materials available under “fair use.” These include library reserves and password protected web resources tied to enrollment (Lyceum). You should only place those materials essential to your course in such a location, and you should remove them at the end of the semester. In all cases, the College should have a legal copy of the material in order for you to make it available under fair use. Other ways of sharing things with students, such as putting them in a share file that is publicly available, publishing them on the World Wide Web, or sharing materials with students who are not in your course, may be subject to potential legal action by copyright holders. We provide a “streaming” service available to secure the access to MP3’s that are used for digital reserves and other educational purposes. Streaming does not transmit a copy of the material. It serves out the content in real time, so it provides an extra technological barrier to unauthorized copying.

  2. If I share music with my students in class, they may make copies for their friends. Am I responsible for this? What are you doing to stop this?

    Students who get materials as a result of course enrollment, whether they are course packs they purchase from the bookstore, library reserves they copy in the library, or materials on a course Website, have never had the right to make these materials available to others. Your students are responsible for their own compliance with the copyright law. We do, and you should, make them aware that the materials you make available to your class are for purposes of the class only. The same applies if the students have the sophistication to work around the technical obstacles we employ to create limitations on copying. They are responsible for their own compliance with the law.

  3. I find this all very confusing. Aren’t there clear rules that I can follow for sharing music or other files in class?

    Unfortunately there are no clear rules for fair use. Fair use is determined on a case-by-case basis, applying and balancing the so-called Four Factors. The University of Texas has published a Copyright Crash Course that provides some useful guidance. You can see the section on fair use at:

    http://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/

    Bates has had ‘guidelines’ for library reserves and course packs for some time. We provide guidance regarding best practices for online digital materials, but the law and best practices are changing rapidly. See:

    http://www.bates.edu/ils/policies/access-use/copyright-guidelines/

    These guidelines define our best efforts to provide a good faith solution to promote the fair use of copyrighted materials. These guidelines are not a substitute for the law, but can guide practice on campus.

  4. I have several computers in my research labs that are assigned to me but that are open to students. Does the college expect me to take responsibility for my students’ computer use while they are using computers in my research lab?

    The basic principle at stake is that all persons, students included, are individually accountable for their behavior. If your lab machines were identified as hosting illegal file sharing we would expect you to help us investigate it and correct the problem. Depending on the nature of the activity, we might also ask for your help in identifying who was responsible. The College could conceivably be construed as being liable for a file sharing program installed on one of our computer lab machines. We want to take the steps we can take to keep the College’s risk to a minimum.

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E-mail Lists Frequently Asked Questions http://www.bates.edu/ils/2011/how-do-i/network/e-mail-lists-frequently-asked-questions/ Wed, 31 Aug 2011 22:33:00 +0000 http://www.bates.edu/ils/?p=525 There are many MAILING LISTS on campus that serve different parts of the Bates Community as a communication tool. The purpose of a mailing list is for a group of users all to see the same information on a particular topic. Here are some of the common instructions and frequently asked questions regarding participation in a mailing list. For our examples, “goodfood” is the name of the list.

n.b., you must be on campus to access lists.bates.edu

For course e-mail lists information, please consult that frequently asked questions web page.

1) How do I subscribe to a mailing list?

  • Open a web browser to https://lists.bates.edu/mailman/listinfo
  • Click on the list to which you wish to subscribe.
  • Enter your information and (if option is available for that particular list) whether you wish to receive the list in once-a-day digest format or individual messages.
  • An e-mail confirmation will be sent to your Bates e-email account; click on the Visit this webpage link to confirm your subscription.
  • On the web page that opens, be sure to click Subscribe to have your request sent to the owner for approval.

NOTE: Each owner will decide if the list is digestible by default. Then they can decide if the members of the list can change their default setting. If a member chooses to digest their list, they will not receive their list messages for that list until the end of the day, and may miss some timely messages.

2) How do I unsubscribe from a mailing list?

At the bottom of that page are the unsubscribe or edit options:

  • Type in your e-mail address in the box.
  • You may be asked for the *password available to you when you subscribed to the list. If you have forgotten the password, click on the remind button and your password will be sent to you in an e-mail.
  • Click to send the unsubscribe message to the moderator/owner.

*Passwords from the list system will be issued to users in order to use the web interface to see who else is part of a particular list. This does not use your network password, only a randomly generated one for this purpose. REMEMBER: To recover your password, go to https://lists.bates.edu/mailman/listinfo and click on the remind button to have the password sent to your e-mail.

3) How do I send a message to a list?
Send an e-mail message to the listname@lists.bates.edu
(e.g., goodfood@lists.bates.edu).

  • The message will be sent to all members of the list. However, Bates Gmail recognizes that you are both the sender and a member of the list. You WILL NOT receive a copy of your message sent to the list. You can look in your Sent Mail for a copy of the message.
  • The subject line should reflect the content of your message.

4) How do I reply to a message from a list?

  • Check the header to see who it is from:
  • From a person
    the reply will go to that person only
  • From the mailing list name
    the reply will go to the entire list
  • If the message was sent from the list, to reply only to the person who sent the message, you need to mail the reply to their name.
  • When you reply to a message, the subject line will be by default: RE: the subject of the message to which you are replying. You may change that if you wish when you send the message.

5) What are some possible reasons for a message not to be received by the members of a list?

  • Lists may be restricted so that only members of the list can send to it without approval from the owner/moderator. The length of the approval process (from a closed list) can keep a message from being sent in a timely fashion.
  • Messages should not be sent to a list and many other e-mail addresses in the same message. Too many names in the “To” or “CC” fields will cause bounced messages.
  • Bates Gmail recognizes that you are a member of the list and therefore WILL NOT send you a copy of the email. Others on the list will still receive the message.

6) How can I save messages so that my Inbox does not become too full?
You are responsible for the management of your messages, including any you wish to save (don’t leave them in your Inbox!). With the new mailman system, you will only receive one copy of a message sent to a list, regardless if you are subscribed to several lists to which the message was mailed, including sending a cc to yourself – only one copy is received to your Inbox.  Information and Library Services (ILS) recommends using email filters to sort your lists automatically into labels. Perhaps set an annual chore of deciding which folders to archive (in local folders), and which to delete.

7) Is there a limit on the size of a message or attachment I can send to a list?
Yes, messages with attachments or large images (particularly inline, where the image can be viewed in the body of the message) may exceed limits and may be returned. The maximum attachment size is 25 MB and to help prevent viruses, Bates Gmail won’t accept file attachments that are executable files (such as those with an .exe extension). Messages with an executable attachment will bounce back to the sender.

8) How do I find out who else is on a list?
If you are a member of the list you can find out on the web or by using e-mail commands:

For Web access to obtaining a list of members (“who”):
NOTE: Off-campus you will be asked to login with Bates username and password before following these instructions.

  • Open a web browser to https://lists.bates.edu/mailman/listinfo
  • Click on the list name.
  • Scroll down the page to the subscribers section at the bottom.
  • Enter your e-mail address and *password.
  • Click the Visit Subscriber List button and a list of the members displays.

E-mail commands for obtaining a list of other members (“who”):

Members have to send the following two messages 1) for your password for the list and 2) to execute the who query:

1)First retrieve your password for this list by sending a message in the following format:

To:listname-request@lists.bates.edu (where listname is the name of the list to which you are a member)

Subject: no subject)

Body: (only the word) password

The list management program will send you a message back with the password, which refers only to this list. Write down the password, as this will be needed for this list in the future.

2)Then send a second message in the following format:

To:listname-request@lists.bates.edu

Subject: (no subject)

Body: who password
[where password is the password you just received]

The list management program will send you an alphabetical list of members by username.

9) How do I synchronize my list passwords?
If you belong to more than one list, you can choose which of the list passwords you would like to be your global password for all your lists.

  • Open a web browser to: https://lists.bates.edu/mailman/listinfo
  • You will see a list of the Mailing lists managed by Bates lists.bates.edu
  • Click on the list which has the password you want to set to be your global password.
  • At the bottom of that page are the unsubscribe or edit options. Type your e-mail address in the box.
  • Click on the unsubscribe or edit options button. On the Edit Options page, you will see Synchronize Your Passwords.
  • Click on the Change globally box, then
  • Click on Change my password.

10) How do I change my e-mail options?

  • Open a web browser to: https://lists.bates.edu/mailman/listinfo
    You will see a list of the Mailing lists managed by Bates lists.bates.edu program.
  • Click on the list for which you want to change options.
  • At the bottom of that page are the unsubscribe or edit options.
  • Type your e-mail address in the box.
  • Click on the Unsubscribe or edit options button.
  • On the edit options page, you will be asked for the *password sent to you when you subscribed to the list. Scroll down the page to see your options that you can change.
  • Some of the options have a box to change the values globally for all your lists if you wish.
  • When you have finished, click on the Submit My Changes button.
  • Go back to the top of the page and click on Logout.

11) Can I access https://lists.bates.edu/mailman/listinfo from off campus to view and modify list options?

You must be on campus to access lists.bates.edu/mailman.

Subscribing or unsubscribing using e-mail is still available from off-campus:

  • Send a message to: listname-request@lists.bates.edu
    (where listname  is the name of the list to which you are subscribing or unsubscribing)
  • In the subject line or in the body of the message type only:
    Subscribe or Unsubscribe

12) What is the difference between archiving and digesting a list?
Digesting is a method of sending all the messages sent to a list as one continuous message, e-mailed to members daily, rather than receiving each individual message at the time it was sent out.

Archiving is the storing of messages from a list for a decided-upon period of time. Server storage space needed for the messages from an active list can be significant.  Very few lists at Bates are archived, and only if there is an important academic reason why a list should be archived should the owner contact Help Desk Services to ask if this can be done. FERPA and other legal reasons may enter into the decision by network administrators as to whether a list will be archived.

13) How can I be sure to preserve the formatting of my message?
In Thunderbird, under Tools > Options > Composition > General tab > Send options> select “send message in HTML anyway” If the option for sending in both plain text and html is selected, the plain text will appear only.
Lists that are digested by default will not keep formatting regardless of how it was originally sent.

15) How to retrieve a forgotten list password using the web interface?

  • Open a web browser to https://lists.bates.edu/mailman/listinfo
  • Click on the list name.
  • Scroll down the page to the subscribers section at the bottom.
  • Enter your email address in the last box on the page
  • Click Unsubscribe or edit options and another page will come up
  • On the left side of the page under Forgotten Your password,click on Email my password to me
  • Your password will be e-mailed to you right away.
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