In an unexpected move yesterday morning, the Computer Operators Group (COG) reactivated the popular campus network search engine Boogle and allowed students to again use it to locate files on the Brandeis network.Boogle, which boasted over 500 unique users a day and over 4,000 unique users in total before it was shut down, was taken offline due to a recent law suit by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) against four college students operating a similiar service at other schools - including one at MIT. After it was taken offline, an online bulletin board placed on the Web site documented students complaining about their inability to find files on the network and begging COG or Danny Silverman '05, the original author of the computer code for Boogle, to reactivate it.

In a statement on Boogle, COG explained to the users their decision to bring back Boogle.

"We strongly believe that our service is legal, just as Google and other search engines are legal -we provide an index of all shared files," the statement read. "While some of those files could be illegal, it is not our place to police the entire network. People need to be individually responsible for their actions."

The statement goes on to say that looking at the recent lawsuits, it is evident that those services were targeted because the RIAA wanted to make scapegoats of individual students for a "massive and global phenomenon."

"Their intimidation tactics are not a viable solution to an important issue." the statement read.

Because Boogle is a by product of many students and operated by COG, the statement said no single student is legally responsible.

"If the RIAA really feels that our actions are wrong, we challenge them to work with all interested parties to create better laws, better online music distribution systems and more clear guidelines," the statement reads. "Only by recognizing what their customers want and being open to change can the RIAA hope to survive in the 21st century.