I'd like to let the people in charge of the university I attend know how I feel about copyright policy. Here's a message all the students of our university received recently.
(university) Students
This message is going out to all students for your information and education about copyright abuse.
As you may be aware, the downloading of audio and video files on the Internet continues to make local and national headlines. I am writing today to clarify the legal implications and explain our policy as it relates to copyright law and provide alternative legal options for downloading.
It has always been against the law to copy someone else's work without permission and downloading songs from the Internet for personal use without permission and/or without paying the owner is considered theft. While not all material available on the Internet is protected by copyright, much of it is.
The U.S. Copyright Law, also found under Title 17 of the United States Code, contains serious penalties for violation of the law. Fines are assessed on each illegal copy of an item. Copying more than $1,000 worth of material can bring criminal penalties and include fines of up to $250,000 and prison terms of up to ten years.
The recording, software and movie industries have stepped up their efforts again to enforce copyright laws and are able to easily track people who maintain servers with illegal files. (university) has had hundreds outside copyright complaints since 2001 that have been handled within the (university) student judiciary system.
Our policy is to immediately block your network access if we are notified that a violation has occurred. You may be exposed to a civil lawsuit from the holder of the copyright and/or a criminal charge from the federal courts. Should you lie about your having the legal right to the material in question you may also face perjury charges. Complaints are referred to the Dean of Students office and can result in penalties of suspension.
Information on anti-piracy and lawsuits can be found at:
RIAA - Recording Industry Association of America - October 07, 2008 ( RIAA - Recording Industry Association of America - October 07, 2008 )
Motion Picture Association of America ( Motion Picture Association of America )
www.p2plawsuits.com ( http://www.p2plawsuits.com/ )
Please review the policies listed below for complete understanding of your rights, responsibilities and ownership of the accounts granted to you through the Information Technology department at (university). All policies can be found at:
(university website)
then select Services, Resources and Policies, click on Policies.
Electronic Media Intellectual Property Rights Policy
(university) - Conditions of Use
(university) Computing Account Agreement
(university) Electronic Mail Policy
(university) has partnered with Ruckus to provide legal music download and listening for (university) students. For more information on
Ruckus, please go to the web site at:
(university website)
If you have any questions about this subject please contact (name protected for privacy), Associate Director of Academic Systems at (phone number blocked for privacy) or (email protected for privacy).
I'd especially like to focus on the RIAA's dodgy legal tactics, bullying of the American people, and lies about where the money they get from lawsuits goes. I've already got some material to send to the university, but are there any sites or resources you can think of that will really spell out for them what's really going on?