Smith College TechNotes blog

Since the start of classes, Smith has received 18 notices of student violations of the copyright provisions of the College’s Acceptable Use Policy.  Companies that have sent violation notices include RIAA, HBO, Warner, and Paramount. 

The Peer-to-Peer (P2P) applications used to commit these violations include BitTorrent, Gnutella, Limewire, and Ares.  If you have any of these applications or similar ones on your computer, we recommend that you remove them immediately.

If you choose to keep P2P software on your computer and are detected using it to distribute copyright-protected material, please be aware of the consequences.  You will first be notified that you are in violation of federal copyright law and the college’s policy on the acceptable use of computer resources.  If you do not remove the software at that time, your network access will be disabled and you will be required to meet with the Dean of Students.  If the problem persists, the matter will be referred to the Judicial Board.

Please take the appropriate steps to avoid disciplinary actions and potential legal problems for yourself.

Please remember that only wireless routers provided and installed by ITS, or authorized and approved by ITS, are permitted on the Smith residence network.

Personal wireless routers are not permitted because they interfere with regular network access for other students located near them. 

If you have a wireless router connected to the network, please disconnect it immediately. Otherwise, your access to the network will be disabled until the router is removed.

Please note that this requirement is clearly stated in the college’s Policy on Acceptable Use of Computer Resources and Wireless Network Policy. 

Thank you for your help in ensuring that the Smith network is available to all students.

Welcome to Smith! Here are six important things you need to know before you arrive on campus in the fall:

(1) Smith uses Novell GroupWise for email. If you haven’t tried your GroupWise account yet, here’s how to get started:

- Open a Web browser and go to the Smith homepage: http://www.smith.edu
- Click on the GroupWise Web button in the lower right of the window.
- In the first GroupWise window, click on the Go button.
- In the GroupWise login window, enter your GroupWise username and password.

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Returning students:  Please note that Smith’s primary email identity is now @smith.edu instead of @email.smith.edu. But don’t worry – your @email.smith.edu address will continue to work as usual.

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Please be aware that while wireless on campus is convenient and a great resource, it is not your only way to access the internet, and should be considered a supplement to the Ethernet connection in your room. So, when both connections are available to you, choose wired over wireless.

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