Although students and faculty were formally warned about the consequences of trading copyrighted files using Napster and similar programs, some students are still in the dark as far as policy and network enforcement are concerned.

Since the original warning was sent via email Sept. 20, nearly 80 on-campus students and one faculty member have been identified as heavy bandwidth users and were compelled to respond to the university last week.

"I thought that it was banned," said Carolyn Carey (sophomore-accounting). "I wasn't sure if you could still use it or not."

Andrew McClune (junior-civil engineering) was unsure when the policy was put into effect and wondered whether or not students would have to delete the Napster program from their hard drive.

Penn State's policy regarding the copying of copyrighted materials is not new however. Penn State has never allowed their computers and network to be used for illegal purposes.

Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Penn State is required by federal law to comply with regulations regarding illegal use of its network. Although Napster doesn't trade the copyrighted music itself, its users are accused of breaking the law when they do so. To curtail such illegal practices, the university has chosen to monitor its network for heavy bandwidth users with characteristics similar to those of frequent Napster users.

"We're just telling students to not get into trouble with the law of copyright infringement," said Rodney Erickson, executive vice president and provost.

Penn State does not require students to delete the Napster program, and copying of non-copyrighted music is allowed as long as the material remains in the public domain.

Users of Napster have found difficulty in identifying which files are copyrighted and which aren't.