A Copyfighter’s Musings

 From: “Ellen Waite-Franzen, Vice President for Computing and Information Services” <Ellen_Waite-Franzen@Brown.edu

 Date: 2003/03/14 Fri PM 03:19:39 EST

 To: “announce.all.students”:;

 Subject: Message to the Brown Community on Illegal Downloading of Music and Videos and Your Vulnerability

 

 On a daily basis, Brown University receives notices that computers on

 our network are sharing movies and music without the permission of the

 copyright holder. These notices come to the Director of IT Security in

 Computing and Information Services (CIS) from organizations that

 represent the artists and copyright holders. When Brown receives such

 a notice, staff in CIS look up the network address and disconnect the

 computer from the network. Once the identity of the individual is

 known, the individual is notified that they must remove the infringing

 material from their computer and inform CIS of its removal before

 network access will be reinstated. We take these actions:

because we are required to do so by law and because, you, the student could also be subjected to civil liability and criminal prosecution.

 

 When we notify students that they must stop sharing copyrighted music,

 movies, games or software, we often hear that they do not know that

 they are engaging in an illegal activity or that their computer has

 been configured to share files with other computers. Ignorance of the

 law or the manner in which your computer is configured will not,

 however, be a defense if you are caught by the authorities. For that

 reason, it is very important that all students read and understand the

 information contained in this letter. 

 

 When people engage in the illegal sharing of music, movie, software or

 games they can be charged under federal law. Each criminal offense has

 a minimum fine of $30,000 and a potential jail sentence. We know of

 instances where students at other institutions who engaged in an

 illegal distribution piracy ring received multi-year prison sentences.

 

 It is important that all members of the community be aware that we are

 receiving considerably more notices this year than we have in the

 past. Copyright owners have stated that they are targeting university

 and college networks since this is where the highest amount of this

 type of activity is taking place. Students who engage in massive file

 sharing are at the highest risk of being identified by both federal

 investigators and copyright owners.

 

 It is true that some copyright holders give official permission to

 download MP3 files. It is also true that some MP3 files are copyright

 free, and some MP3 files can be legally obtained through subscription

 services. However, most MP3 files and video files that are shared do

 not fall into any of these categories. Just because a song is listed

 as available on sites like KaZaA, does not mean that the copyright

 holder has given KaZaA permission to distribute this song. In fact,

 applications like KaZaA were developed specifically to make it

 difficult for copyright owners to pursue their rights; that is why

 copyright holders target the individuals who are sharing the music,

 rather than KaZaA, itself.

 

 US Copyright Law allows you to create MP3s only for the songs to which

 you already have rights or if you have acquired the right to do so

 from the copyright holder. This usually means you purchased the CD or

 tape or you acquired the right through a download permitted by the

 copyright holder. US Copyright Law allows you to make a copy of this

 purchased file only for your personal use. Personal use does not mean

 that you can give a copy to other people, or sell a copy of it. These

 same guidelines apply to movie/video sharing. 

 

 Many students also do not know that when you use popular Peer-to-Peer

 file sharing applications, such as KaZaA, that you have opened up your

 computer to users on the international Internet. Not only does this

 allow your computer to share your music and video files, it also makes

 your computer more susceptible to worms and viruses.  

 

 The University is in the process of reviewing the policies that govern

 this issue. This policy review will be finished before the end of the

 spring semester. Until that time, however, our current policy can be

 found at http://www.brown.edu/webmaster/TM009.html.

 

 Any students with questions about the University’s policies in this

 area or this notice should feel free to contact me or the Director of

 IT Security, Connie Sadler. Our email addresses are:

 Ellen_Waite-Franzen@brown.edu  and  Connie_Sadler@brown.edu.

 

Filed by Derek Slater at 7:31 pm under cmusingsStories