For the last couple of months, a few of us have been compensating for Australian TV's lack of decent shows by downloading rips from the US, using ANU's bandwidth.
Usually, at ANU, all HTTP traffic must go through the cache. This cache limits you to about 5 MB/day (there's other conditions, like you can accumulate credits, etc).
The Chifley Library at ANU has "walk-up laptop ports". Basically, you plug in your laptop, log on, and go nuts. The network admins there had left outgoing port 80 wide open. Unmetered downloads! While these connections are traffic shaped though; you're limited to 250kb/s per download, this can easily be overcome by an application such as GetRight or FlashGet.
We assumed that this was a flaw in their network design, and decided to make full use of it... Little did we know, it was being logged.
The following email was recieved by myself, and a few people I know:
From: "John McGee" <John.McGee@anu.edu.au>
Date: Fri, September 10, 2004 8:07 am
Subject: Your usage of the ANU's wireless LAN service
Our activity monitoring records of the newly introduced wireless LAN service indicates that you have downloaded some 5,900 MBytes from the Internet over the wireless service since the commencement of September.
This amount of Internet download in in clear breach of the University's Acceptable Use Policy for communications and information systems, unless it can be clearly substantiated by you that this downloaded traffic is for your legitimate study use. (refer http://info.anu.edu.au/policies/
Policies/Information/Other/
Acceptable_Use_of_Systems.asp)
In addition, this quantity of Internet download is in clear breach of the student quota levels for Internet downloads. As you should be aware, a student is allocated only 5 MBytes per day, and can only accumulate 40 MBytes at any one time. You are averaging over 270 MBytes per day this month.
You are hereby advised that if you continue to be in breach of either the acceptable use policy or of your student quota you will be asked to show cause why your access to the network, that is, your University Log On, should not be removed. If you are unable to show cause then disciplinary action will be taken.
Please note that should this course of action eventuate due to your continued abuse of the wireless LAN service (ie, you cannot show cause), when your network access is removed you will not be able to access any University IT resources, such as webCT, e-mail, Internet, personal file space, etc, from anywhere - whether wireless or from the Information Commons - until any disciplinary action is completed.
If you could please acknowledge your receipt and understanding of this warning with a return e-mail reply, and I look forward to your renewed and appropriate use of the University's wireless LAN service.
Regards
______________________________
John McGee
Manager Networks & Communications
Division of Information
Leonard Huxley Building, 56
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200 Australia
T: +61 2 6125 4216
M: 0416 249 150
W: http://netcomms.anu.edu.au
CRICOS Provider #00120C
______________________________
Comments
My interpretation of that is that you get a slap on the wrist and are told not to do it again.
Which then means that I am going to get each and all of the people I know at ANU (you excluded obviously) to have a go with a laptop and their anu network login until they get that email or John makes it more obvious you can't do it at all.
Cheers for the clear directions on how to go about harvesting anu's bandwidth bounty! :D
Lets just hope they haven't since secured the valuable port 80.
He'll understand when you explain to him that you were only gathering research material for your thesis on a critical analysis of the gilmore girls...