The downloading of copyright materials without the explicit consent of the copyright holder is strictly prohibited by both the university and our Internet Service Provider (JANET).

Relevant documents

• University of Warwick: Regulations governing the use of University Computing Facilities - http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/gov/calendar/section2/regulations/computing/
• JANET Acceptable Use Policy - http://www.ja.net/services/publications/policy/aup.html

Peer-to-peer file sharing software is specialist software that allows users to share files. While it is possible to use such software to download legal files, in practice most of the files available are copies of copyrighted music and movies. The presence of such sharing software on any WBS computer, or connected to the WBS network, would pose a number of threats to the School and its staff raising both legal and security concerns.

To prevent the risk of any copyright contravention, even accidental, the installation of any peer-to-peer file sharing software is prohibited on any WBS computer or other computer connected to the WBS network.

Please note that Skype, although technically similar to a peer-to-peer file sharing program, is specifically excluded from this policy and will, in due course, be covered by a separate policy that aims to allow the business benefits to be gained while minimising the possible risks associated with its use.

Any user who believes their computer may have any such software installed must uninstall it immediately. Please contact the Helpdesk if you require assistance in doing this. Users of computers that currently appear to have such software installed will receive a separate, follow-up email.

Examples of programs that are banned are given below but the list is not intended to be exhaustive. If you are uncertain as to whether a piece of software is covered by this prohibition please contact the Helpdesk.

• Aimster
• Bear Share
• Bitcomet
• BitTorrent
• Blubster
• Direct Connect (sometimes called DC, or DC++)
• eDonkey
• KaZaA
• LimeWire (similar applications to this often refer to the Gnutella protocol)
• Morpheus
• PeerEnabler
• uTorrent