IU Southeast has issued a notice to inform students of an increase in illegal downloading and sharing copyright songs and movies over the Internet on campus.
Lee Staton, manager of communication and special projects, said he believes the rise is coming from the increase of students living on campus, increasing the usage of wired and wireless connections.
“There was a significant increase in activity when the lodges first opened,” Staton said. “Since we have residents living on campus and a fast Internet connection, the environment was perfect for people to download. As we have started to educate students, there has been a steady decrease in the number of violations on our campus.”
According to the Misuse and Abuse of Information Technology Resources, Indiana University handles copyright infringement and misuse of technology resources according to certain policies and procedures.
Charges against individuals who abuse these technological resources can also be taken by the university.
“IU does not have a policy on downloading content specifically,” Staton said. “We comply with the United States copyright laws and work towards educating students about copyright infringement.”
Seuth Chaleunphonh, dean of students and director of Campus Life, said, when students are caught, it is not usually by someone at the university.
“Students are not often caught from the IT Department or by students telling on other students,” Chaleunphonh said. “It is mostly by outside sources. When you log into a computer — any computer on campus or wirelessly through your own laptops — you use a username and password. Likewise, when you use other websites, you use a login and password. Outside sources can track that login name and password and trace it.”
A student’s actions are not monitored while using the technology resources at IU Southeast.
“IU does not monitor for file sharing,” Staton said. “The DMCA and RIAA monitor for people that download their content then report it to the university.”
The issue of copyright is important to IU Southeast because of the magnitude of people it can affect.
“I think students, inside, kind of know,” Chaleunphonh said. “It’s just I think they have to filter out who this affects. It might be a little different at home on a home system, but using the system at school impacts the whole school community — the students and employees.”
Chaleunphonh said the system is also university-wide.
“We all go through the same IT,” Chaleunphonh said. “That’s why the IT takes it pretty serious and that is a fact most students do not think about. It affects not only the student but the university as a whole, as well.”
Chaleunphonh also said it is important for students to understand that downloading copyright songs and movies can be very damaging to computers.
“Illegal downloads and filesharing can cause a lot of harm to a student’s computer,” Chaleunphonh said. “It can cause viruses that can make your computer run very slow. It can also crash your computer entirely.”
As far as anti-virus software, Chaleunphonh said he advises students have something to protect their computers as well as a means to back up storage, such as iCloud.
“With one click, everything can be gone,” Chaleunphonh said. “That chance is heightened with illegal downloads.”
According to the Awareness and Education Presence, it is more effective for Indiana University to increase education and knowledge than using short term blocking of student access.
“We cannot stop these violations outright,” Staton said. “We cannot tell a person what they can and cannot have installed on their personal computers. Our goal is to educate about the risks and let our students make their own adult decisions.”
On campus, Staton said there have been numerous ad campaigns, such as posters, slides on video bulletin boards and websites for self-study. It is also discussed at every student orientation.
Secunia, a program which monitors computers for vulnerabilities, is available for download to all students and is required for lodge residents who connect their computer with an Ethernet wire.
“Students must agree to certain terms and conditions when creating accounts and connecting to the IU network,” Staton said. “An e-mail is sent to all IU students on every campus outlining the dangers of illegal file sharing, the seriousness of copyright infringement lawsuits and what students can do to educate and protect themselves. These are all ways in which IU seeks to educate and protect our students.”
In a letter to students from Tom Sawyer, chief information officer of information technology, he said out how a student must understand is summarized.
The letter said it is important to understand that if someone shares copyright materials, he is likely breaking the law. It is fairly easy for the copyright holders to identify computers on the Internet from which sharing is taking place and obtain a court order to obtain information about that user.
Any illegal sharing using Internet access is against IU policy. If IU receives notice that a student has used their network for illegal filesharing, the university can take appropriate action as well as charge a fee of $50 to the student’s Bursar bill in order to pay for the violation.
According to the Copyright Infringement Resolution document, a student’s first offense will result in a $50 fine and the student will have to complete an online tutorial. They will also have to pass a quiz within 36 hours.
If the student fails or refuses to take the quiz, they will be unable to access the IU network and given a deadline of two weeks to finish the quiz.
If the student still fails to resolve the issue, the dean of students will be notified and their account will remain blocked until the quiz is passed.
For the second offense, the student will have to restart the tutorial and quiz as well as pay another $50 fine.
However, for the second offense, the student cannot regain service until at least two weeks.
On the third offense, access to the server will be taken away indefinitely.
“Don’t pirate while on an IU computer, over any IU network, wired or wireless, or while on a secure VPN connection through their servers,” Jonathan Morrison, IT employee and video production specialist, said.
By SUSAN GREENWELL
Staff
susdgree@ius.edu
