Cornell Implementing Bandwidth Charges

Sabalon writes "Cornell University is planning on implementing a plan where if faculty, staff or students use more than 2GB of bandwidth a month, they will be charged for the additional bandwidth usage. The article mentions that last year over 100,000GB worth of files were sent from Cornell's network. I'm sure this is not the only school doing this or moving to this. I'm sure the conspiracy theory people will see this as a suggestion by Microsoft to stop students from getting those pesky Linux iso images. At least, according to the RIAA, CD sales around Cornell should now skyrocket :)" It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. Since students often have accounts on several different university machines, I suspect the more rebellious ones will be running an assortment of proxies and redirections to get around the restrictions.

Wow, high-tech...

[MeanMF]

"entrepreneurial" staff and faculty members began using devices, called multiport repeaters, to plug more than one computer into a single network port.

That sounds pretty cool - maybe I'll get one of those to replace my hub...

irrefutable?

[fandelem]

"The logs provide an irrefutable record of which departments and users are consuming the most Internet bandwidth. "

Next week's headlines: The main routers that hold all the log information were found tampered with. -k

Not a big deal

[Txiasaeia]

So make a friend who doesn't use all of his/her bandwidth and leech offa that when you're at your limit.

I mean, the toughest part about this plan is the "making friend" bit... but I'm sure that's not too tough, right? Any one?

Wish they had this back in 1995...

[Anonymous Coward]

...when I went to Cornell. Then I might have spent less time playing Quake and hording mp3's, and more time on academics...

Sneakernet

[acoustiq]

...CD sales around Cornell should now skyrocket..

You mean, of course, CD-Rs once everyone discovers the sneakernet [ic.ac.uk].

Re:Necessary, but stifling

[jazman_777]

Perhaps the kids will figure out how to make it look like they're really other users in order to get their bandwidth. Ethically perhaps not great, but when the going gets tough...

At Georgia Tech, there is a mythical student named "George P. Burdell". He's been around forever. He's even got degrees. One quarter he was signed up for every class offered. I am sure his bandwidth would be unlimited. Does Cornell have any such demigods there?

Who Pays for This?

[jazman_777]

If we /. Cornell's web site(s), who pays for _that_?

Linux ISOs? Yeah, right...

[aquarian]

...more like "Girls Gone Wild" DVDs...