Is is safe to download anime on a college campus?

Question

I'm currently living in a dorm in one of the UC campuses. So i have to use the internet provided by the school. I use bittorrent and sometimes direct download anime. I heard about people that got sued for downloading things using the school connection. So I wonder if anyone know if it's safe. I've also heard that some people say it is ok to download fansubs as long as it's not a DVD rip.

Answer 1

It very much depends on your campus policy.
Some campuses monitor actual content while others just measure bandwidth (amount of data being transferred).
(I'm involved in Student Government at my UW school, and we just talked about all the RIAA stuff going on in our state campuses earlier this year).

I would say that it is really not safe to do so on a college campus. But if you're going to download, just don't do it really often.

#1 - I would steer clear of torrents.

#2 - Whatever you download, make sure you do NOT have the sharing feature on. THAT is the way you get in trouble.

#3 - Streaming video isn't something to be terribly worried about. (You're not downloading and sharing.)

Since policies vary from school to school, definitely check the specific policy on downloading for your campus.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Bittorrent is a big no no. It's one thing to be downloading stuff, it's quite another thing to be sharing the content. However, if the stuff that you are downloading is unlicensed in america, there really isn't anyone who would go after you. If instead, you are torrenting things like Naruto, Bleach, Death Note, etc, you may find youself in trouble.

If it is just direct downloads or streaming, it's pretty much a 0% likely hood that you will get into trouble.