Respect intellectual property
November 05, 2009 - by KeesPosted under: Information Security
Music, movies, games and whatever else you can think of is copyrighted by the author of the work. Unfortunately, that means that downloading materials for which you have not paid may be illegal and a violation of the Adelphi Code of Conduct.
The university receives many copyright infringement notices, which claim that people on our network are using software like Limewire, gnutella, bittorrent, etc. to do just that. The law requires us to investigate each of those complaints and report the findings to appropriate people in the university.
Copyright notices that trace back to students (which is usually the case) are considered Code of Conduct violations ("respect intellectual property"), and they are reported to the student conduct coordinator. When a report traces back to a computer assigned to faculty, administration or staff, it is considered an employment issue and the responsible area director will be notified.
Below is the text of such a notice:
November 03, 2009
Adelphi University
1 South Ave.
Garden City, NY 11530
Sir or Madam:
I am contacting you on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) -- the trade association whose member music companies create, manufacture, and distribute approximately 85% of all legitimate music sold in the United States.
If you are a university Internet Service Provider (ISP), you have received this letter because we have identified a user on your network reproducing or distributing an unauthorized copy of a copyrighted sound recording. This letter constitutes notice to you that this user may be liable for infringing activity occurring on your network. Administrators interested in receiving fewer notices and learning about the tools available to schools should visit the "Resources for Colleges & Universities" section of www.campusdownloading.com.
If you are a university Internet subscriber (user), you have received this letter because your Internet account was used to illegally copy and/or distribute copyrighted music over the Internet through a peer to peer application.
Distributing copyrighted works on a peer to peer system is a public activity visible by other users on that network, including the RIAA. An historic 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision affirmed that uploading and downloading copyrighted works without the copyright owner's permission is clearly illegal. You may be liable for the illegal activity occurring on your computer.
To avoid legal consequences, a college user should immediately delete and disable access to the unauthorized music on your computer. Learn how at the "About Music Copyright Notices" section of www.campusdownloading.com. That section also contains practical information about:
- How you were identified and why illegal downloading is not anonymous
- What next steps to take
- Where to get legal music online
We encourage Internet subscribers to visit the website www.musicunited.org, which contains valuable information about what is legal and what is not when it comes to copying music. It also links to some of the more popular online music services where fans can go to listen to and/or purchase their favorite songs.
We have attached below the details of the illegal file-sharing, including the time, date, and a sampling of the music shared. We assert that the information in this notice is accurate, based upon the data available to us. We have a good faith belief that this activity is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. Under penalty of perjury, we submit that the RIAA is authorized to act on behalf of its member companies in matters involving the infringement of their sound recordings, including enforcing their copyrights and common law rights on the Internet. This letter does not constitute a waiver of any of our member's rights, and all such rights are expressly reserved.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation. If you have any questions, please visit the "About Music Copyright Notices" section of www.campusdownloading.com.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Landis
Recording Industry Association of America
1025 F Street, NW, 10th Floor
Washington, D.C., 20004
Email: ispnoticefaq@riaa.com
Ph: 1-800-838-9775
List of infringing content
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Rihanna Don't Stop The Music
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INFRINGEMENT DETAIL
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Infringing Work : Rihanna Don't Stop The Music
Filename : Rihanna - Please Don't Stop The Music.mp3
First found (UTC): 2009-11-02T20:24:34.75Z
Last found (UTC): 2009-11-02T20:24:34.75Z
Filesize : 6944896 bytes
IP Address: 192.160.131.27
IP Port: 4621
Network: Gnutella
Protocol: Gnutella
We will take this information and we will attempt to confirm that a matching data transfer took place, and if so, we will identify the computer that was used.
This is where another important piece of advice comes into play: do not share you password with anyone, for any reason. If you let someone else use your computer to download illegal materials, it will trace back to you, and you will be held accountable.
