Returning SMU students may have found an unpleasant surprise when they plugged in their computers this fall. As of June, the popular Web site for downloading music, KaZaA, has been blocked from SMU access.

George Chrisman, associate vice president of Information Technology Services, said KaZaA and services like it were blocked because of numerous ethical as well as legal issues.

“It violates university policy,” Chrisman said.

The decision was reviewed in detail, but KaZaA was taking up about 50 percent of the allotted bandwidth of the server.

Chrisman said it was his responsibility to protect users from mishaps.

“It is also a very dangerous program for a student who is linked to the rest of campus to be toying with,” he said.

By downloading files, KaZaA enables software to be stored onto a computer, unbeknownst to the user. From there, viruses and other contractible bugs can work their way into the mainstream.

In 2000, SMU blocked the popular file-sharing service Napster just months before it was sued by major record labels for copyright infringement.

However, SMU is not alone in its attempt to protect students from the Internet. Other Texas universities have been experiencing similar problems.

By using KaZaA, University of North Texas residence halls were consuming a lot of Web space, slowing down the system. Because it has a large music school, UNT decided that it couldn’t block all music sites.

Still, something had to be done.

The school purchased a costly package-shaper program that regulates student use to the Internet but doesn’t deny access to any given site.

UNT does not block any Web sites.

“It’s a safety issue,” said Maurice Leatherbury, UNT senior director of academic computing and assistant to associate vice president for computing and communication services. “I am not in the position of restricting academic possibilities.”

As for SMU blocking KaZaA, Leatherbudy said because it is a private university, there is more justification for the decision.

At TCU, the staff’s Internet use is blocked more heavily than the students’.

TCU manager of technical services Bill Senter, said nothing is fully blocked at TCU because the university gives everyone a chance to use the Internet.

With their own rendition of the package-shaper program, the Packateer, there is a guarantee of bandwidth for everybody, he said.

Senter does not believe that SMU is violating any student’s right by limiting or blocking certain programs.

“Because SMU is an organization that provides an Internet service to its students, they have the opportunity to do as they will”, Senter said. “I can’t say I blame them.”

Students at SMU have a slightly different opinion. With trouble finding a place to download even the shortest song, students are resorting to endlessly testing out new servers.

“It basically sucks,” junior Alisa Wright said.

Wright is angry that she can’t download her favorite music when she’s away from her radio.

“With the Internet, you can burn a more diverse selection of songs,” Wright said.

Sophomore Veronica Terefenko agrees.

“This has been going on for a long time, but people are going to find a way around it,” Terefenko said. “It’s just more difficult.”