Peer-to-peer file downloads stop
Published Jan. 19, 2007
Stealing music will no longer be as simple as a click-and-drag for MU students and could be more costly.
Information and Access Technology Services banned peer-to-peer and Internet based file-sharing programs in cooperation with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. File-sharing programs were blocked as of Jan. 12. Students and staff members were notified through a mass e-mail before the winter semester began.
Internet-based peer-to-peer file-sharing programs, such as BitTorrent and LimeWire, are blocked by these changes.
"I always thought music was about the artists getting their music to the fans," freshman Cori Dover said. "I guarantee that they're still making plenty of money and people can still hear their music."
Dover said she plans to continue to download music through peer-to-peer programs but not while on campus.
Downloading copyrighted material through peer-to-peer programs is illegal under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a federal law passed in 1998. The act defines sharing multimedia files with other users over the Internet as stealing. IATS, as well as colleges and universities across the country, receives complaints from organizations or record labels when users download material illegally while using their Internet service.
After IATS receives a complaint, the computer or device under suspicion is temporarily removed from the network, and the owner is informed of the complaint, IATS spokesman Terry Robb said.
First-time offenders will be required to complete the Safe and Legal Computing on the Internet course and to sign an agreement to cease file-sharing activities. Computers and other devices used for sharing could also be blocked from the network for a minimum of two weeks, according to the IATS Web site.
"It reminds them of the legal status of copyrights," Robb said. "Music and movie companies want to be paid for artistic and intellectual works."
If IATS, as an Internet service provider to the students, faculty and staff at MU, were to refuse to follow up DMCA and other complaints, the university could be the victim of a lawsuit.
Robb said the university receives a number of DMCA violations because peer-to-peer software is used to share copyrighted material often. The campus had 122 DMCA violations in 2006. This year, there has already been one reported DMCA violation.
Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America, testified before the subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce in Sept. 2006. Sherman discussed file sharing on college campuses. He said university students are some of the largest consumers of digital music.
Sherman said frequent comments made by academic officials when presented with the problem of illegal file sharing are connected with academic freedom.
"Allowing illegal file sharing is antithetical to any educational institution's objective to instill in its students moral and legal clarity," Sherman said. "No academic institution would teach its students that stealing is OK."
According to its Web site, the RIAA is representative of the recording industry in the United States and promotes legal sale of creative and intellectual property. The organization's members are responsible for the manufacturing of 90 percent of recordings produced and sold in the U.S.
"Songwriters, studio producers and countless other less celebrated people who earn a living in the music industry are the ones who are hurt most by piracy," RIAA communications staff member Amanda Hunter said. "Unauthorized downloading is just as illegal as shoplifting and it is every bit as wrong."
Sophomore Aaron Channon said he had downloaded files through peer-to-peer software in the past but stopped after a file he downloaded corrupted his computer's hard drive.
Channon no longer downloads illegally from file sharing applications but still gets most music for free from compact discs.
"Mostly I just think if illegal downloads continue that it would cause a rapid and constant overturn of artists," Channon said.
In late 2004, the RIAA filed copyright infringement lawsuits against more than 500 individuals suspected of sharing copyrighted material over the Internet. The users were only identified by their IP addresses and were referred to as John Does.
The RIAA does not make its interactions with universities public, but one UM-Rolla student could be among those included in the litigation, according to an article published by the UMR department of public relations.
Brian Buege, the university's interim director of Information Technology, said he was unable to comment officially on litigation involving students.
Compared to numbers of DMCA violation complaints at MU, Buege said it is likely there are more at UMR due to a different philosophy on the use of technology. He said they encourage students to comply with copyright law, but do not limit their technological access.
"Part of attending school at the University of Missouri-Rolla is to learn how to behave ethically or morally within a technological society and to understand the ethical implications of their action," Buege said.