On Aug. 17, the university began taking an active role in the awareness and prevention of illegal filesharing on campus.

Be Aware You’re Uploading (BAYU) is a system that alerts users when files are being uploaded from their computers. Whenever peer-to-peer filesharing is detected on Iowa State’s network, BAYU finds the computer’s IP address and sends an e-mail to its registered user.

“The University of Michigan presented BAYU at a conference of university chief information officers,” said Andy Weisskopf, IT Services system analyst and BAYU project manager. “It was very appealing to us, because one of our biggest frustrations is getting notices for copyright violations. This is a good way to provide targeted education to specific people rather than blanketing the information over everybody.”

BAYU e-mails include instructions on disabling filesharing applications while also giving the user a chance to opt out of receiving further e-mails. The opt out period lasts for 60 days, after which the user is eligible to receive another notice.

As soon as a few minor glitches are worked out, BAYU will be fully automated and not closely monitored by Iowa State. “It’s still in the beginning stages,” said Jim Twetten, IT Services director of academic technologies. “But the intent is to have it be a hands-off, automated system like many others on campus.”

According to Iowa State’s BAYU Web site, the system does not look at the content of the files being uploaded or “generate lists of users for punitive/disciplinary action.” Instead, it simply informs the user that filesharing is occurring.

“We’re only keeping information just long enough to answer questions, and I don’t see that changing,” Weisskopf said. “The University of Michigan is letting other schools use it as long as it’s purely educational and not punitive.”

Although, in many cases, students are already aware that they’re uploading, it is also possible for filesharing software to run unknown to the user. BAYU is meant to warn those who know the filesharing is occurring that they might be performing illegal activities and to inform those who may not know.

“We find that sometimes students don’t even know they’re uploading materials; so BAYU could be saving them a lot of trouble, angst and even some money,” said Twetten. “The point is if ISU’s automated network detection system can see peer-to-peer traffic, so can the recording industry.”

Iowa State has no immediate plans to change the current BAYU system, but may consider improvements in the future.