FC: Univ of California, Davis warns campus about P2P sharing

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 17:15:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: Joseph Lorenzo Hall
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>, Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: UC Davis Warning to Students about P2P/DMCA...

(no email address retained if posted/forwarded, please)

This seems to be the start of a UC-wide effort... It's even backed up
with an educational website "featuring a wide range of information
related to the use of copyrighted and public domain materials by
individuals and educational institutions."
        

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 20 May 2003 14:19:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: Provost Hinshaw <@ucdavis.edu>
To: "UC Davis Staff and Students":;
Subject: File-Sharing and Copyright Infringement
X-Approved-BY: Jack Farrell <jfarrell () ucdavis edu>
X-Approved-BY: Stan Nosek <senosek () ucdavis edu>

UC DAVIS: OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR
OFFICE OF THE PROVOST

May 20, 2003


File-Sharing and Copyright Infringement
A Communication to the Campus Community

We are alerting the campus community -- students, faculty and staff --
to the personal risks involved with illegal file-sharing. It is
important that you understand these risks not only because of the
possibility of disciplinary action, but also to protect against
criminal prosecution and the initiation of civil litigation by
copyright holders. We would like you to be very aware that initiation
of legal action by copyright holders is becoming more of a reality
every day.

Though trading of copyrighted music, movies, games and software over
the Internet has become commonplace using file-sharing programs such
as KaZaa or Morpheus, it is often not legal to do so. Most material is
copyrighted, and obtaining or offering such material without
appropriate permission is a violation of US copyright law and may be
punishable with civil and criminal penalties including prison time and
money damages. When copyright holders resort to legal actions, there
is little the University will be able to do to protect copyright
infringers.

Some believe that "recreational file-sharing" is unlikely to be
noticed. This is not the case. The reality is that copyright holders
are significantly intensifying enforcement using automated scanning
software to identify infringements, no matter how small. The Recording
Industry of America Association on April 4, 2003 filed suit against
four students at three universities for copyright infringement.
Settlements ranged from $12,000 to $17,000.

As the Internet Service Provider to the campus community, UC Davis
receives dozens of infringement claims every month. In compliance with
the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act and University of California
Guidelines for Compliance with Online Service Provider Provisions of
the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(http://www.ucop.edu/irc/policy/dmcaguide.html), UC Davis
expeditiously takes action when notified of infringing sites located
on the campus network. All of these incidents are referred to the
appropriate campus officials and appropriate disciplinary actions are
levied against those who are downloading or serving copyrighted
materials without appropriate permission.

Of course, there are legitimate applications of file-sharing software
and networks, and research on such peer-to-peer applications is
expanding rapidly in the academic community. We will ensure that such
inquiry remains unimpeded and balance all needs fundamental to our
institution.

To assist in this awareness effort, the University of California is
developing a Web site featuring a wide range of information related to
the use of copyrighted and public domain materials by individuals and
educational institutions. That site will be linked from the UC Davis
main page (http://www.ucdavis.edu/) in the next few weeks. In the
meantime, please submit any questions you might have to
copyright () ucdavis edu.


Virginia Hinshaw
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor

Stan Nosek
Vice Chancellor, Administration

John Bruno
Vice Provost, Information and Educational Technology


------------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph Lorenzo Hall

"SCO is alleging that IBM misappropriated from SCO technologies which
do not appear in SCO's own product." Eric Raymond and Rob Landley
http://www.opensource.org/sco-vs-ibm.html#id2788930




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