UAA is planning to deliberately slow down wired Internet connections in campus residence halls and dorms as a way to crack down on illegal downloads and piracy.
“We found that over 95 percent of the complaints that we have received have come from one location on the Anchorage campus, and that is our residence halls,” said Rich Whitney, the university's chief information officer.
Federal law requires the university to respond to complaints from industry groups, like the Recording Industry Association of America, which tracks illegal downloads and notifies network administrators of violations.
Those complaints in 2010 were double what they were in 2008, and the 2011 projection is likely to set a new record, Whitney said.
The new dorm Internet speed, 2 megabits per second, will be roughly half what some students are used to during certain times of the day -- not enough to stream high-definition movies, but enough to get school work done and then some, Whitney said.
“All my songs are legal, all my movies are legal, and I don't want to be punished for that,” said George Brandenburg, a student who started a Facebook page opposing the network change.
UAA says the changes should take effect in the next few weeks.
Contact Ted Land at tland@ktuu.com
