[DMCA-Activists] USC to Students: No Sharing Files

[Seth Johnson]

(Forwarded from Interesting People list)

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [IP] USC to Students: No Sharing Files
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 19:58:29 -0400
From: Dave Farber <address@hidden>
To: ip <address@hidden>


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From: John Wittig <address@hidden>
Reply-To: address@hidden
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 01:18:50 -0500
To: address@hidden
Subject: USC to Students: No Sharing Files

http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,55159,00.html

By Brad King

3:25 p.m. Sep. 13, 2002 PDT
Students at the University of Southern California could face
a school year without computer access if they are busted
swapping movies and music online.

In an e-mail message to all students, school officials
warned that using peer-to-peer file-trading services could
force the university to kick students off the network.

"We want to alert you to the fact that many of you are
risking complete loss of access to the USC computer system
and both disciplinary and legal action," wrote USC dean of
libraries Jerry Campbell and vice president of student
affairs Michael Jackson in the e-mail.

The e-mail outlines the definition of copyright violations,
particularly with respect to making copies of movies and
music, as well as sharing those files. It warns that the
entertainment industry has been "obtaining snapshots" of
Internet IP addresses and a list of files being traded by
people across the country. They have then been asking ISPs
to cut off access to those suspected of piracy.

The USC warning is the latest in a long line of wrangling
between schools and the entertainment industry over
copyright violation.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has
targeted schools for several years as part of its ongoing
Soundbyting campaign to stamp out file trading.

It has had some success. Jeffery Levy was convicted of
copyright infringement in 1999 for distributing thousands of
files using the University of Oregon's network. Just two
months later, 71 Carnegie Mellon University students were
reprimanded for making the MP3 files available to anyone on
the school's network.

At the height of the Napster craze, 17 U.S. colleges banned
the song-swapping service completely.

However, the last two years have seen a change in the winds.
Schools have been loath to restrict what its students can
do.

MIT has taken a hands-off approach to its students'
activities over the years, allowing students to use as much
bandwidth as they want. The University of California at
Berkeley and Stanford University have placed limits on how
much bandwidth students can use.

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