Student Computing and The Law School

Copyright Infringement

On July 1, 2010, rules in the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008, went into effect and this means that JMLS must:

1. Notify students about copyright infringement issues

2. Develop a plan to address copyright infringement issues and they must include "the use of one or more technology based deterrents". 

According to EDUCAUSE, the group which represents higher ed IT admins, these deterrents break down into four categories:

1. Bandwidth shaping

2. Traffic monitoring to identify the largest bandwidth users

3. A vigorous program of accepting and responding to Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notices

4. A variety of commercial products designed to reduce or block illegal file sharing

More information on downloading and sharing copyrighted music, movies and software can be found here: ISU RIAA Debate

JMLS and Legal Downloading

The JMLS has always blocked P2P streaming software (Limewire, BitTorrent, Morpheus, BearShare, etc..) on the network, because of the amount bandwidth used by students when downloading from these services.  

Violations and Law School Response

If the Law School receives a DMCA complaint against a student , network access will be immediately revoked and the student will be referred to the Associate Dean of Student Affairs for disciplinary action.

Breaking the law can also lead to criminal or civil penalties. People found guilty of copyright infringement are often made to pay exorbitant fines reaching to the tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. As aspiring attorneys, your careers could be at risk if you are involved in a copyright infringement lawsuit......Especially, while you are attending law school!

Staying Compliant

The best way to stay compliant is not to use P2P files sharing software and use legal downloading sites for music; Amazon has a huge selection of hard to find songs that are downloadable and are legal.

Do not install P2P file-sharing software on your computer

• By default, P2P applications will search for and share content on your computer with others. P2P applications usually run as soon as you turn on your computer and continue to run in the background. Even if you disable uploading, copyrighted content in a “shared” folder can be seen by others using the same P2P network and many P2P programs may reset preferences to resume uploading.

• The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and other content owners use the same P2P software that file sharers do in order to catch file sharers sharing their protected content with others.

•  If you’re running a P2P program, chances are that the RIAA is running the same software. In fact, the person downloading a song from you may be working for the RIAA and may be compiling evidence against you. It has happened to thousands of P2P users, and it can happen to you.

Disabling Peer-to-Peer File Sharing

If you insist on using an P2P program, you should disable file sharing on your software client to avoid copyright infringement.  See this excellent site at the University of Chicago for instructions on disabling file sharing on many of the most common P2P clients.

Legal Sources of Online Content

The Higher Education Opportunity Act requires all colleges and universities to offer legal alternatives to unauthorized downloading. The list at the bottom of this page includes all of the legitimate online services we're aware of. No endorsement or evaluation is intended.