Advice on Peer-to-Peer Filesharing
Peer-to-peer filesharing is a term used to describe
when your computer is sharing files to
other personal computers. It is quite simple; it seems like you
can get things for free; it seems like everyone is doing it.
How can it be wrong? Well, it may be. Peer-to-peer filesharing
and the programs that do it have some serious problems.
- Often the files that are shared are copyrighted and thus you are
responsible for the illegal distribution of copyrighted
materials. It is not uncommon for the College to receive
official complaints about specific computers which are
illegally distributing copyrighted materials. For important
information about one of the more aggressive entities fighting
copyright infringement, see:
Copyright infringement by any employee of the College puts both
the College and the employee at risk of being named in a lawsuit.
- It can slow down your computer.
- It can slow down the entire College network.
The sum of a number of users who are peer-to-peer file sharing
severely impacts the College network. If you find
the network slow, peer-to-peer filesharing
is often the primary cause. It does not take that many
abusers to do this.
- Files you obtain may contain viruses or trojan programs that
allow others to take control of your computer.
This can seriously compromise the security of the College
network. Any computer used for any College
administrative purpose must never have had such programs
installed. These programs are difficult to completely
remove and pose unacceptable security risks if they have
ever been installed on a computer.
- You can be sued for a great deal of money.
Running peer-to-peer programs has adverse effects on our network
and incurs risk both for the individual and for the College.
Copyright holders are increasingly seeking legal action and
aggressively pursuing violators.
Lawsuits
In April 2003, the Recording Industry Association of
America (RIAA) filed lawsuits against four students at the
following schools: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
[two individuals], Princeton University, and
Michigan Technological University.
Apparently, no warnings were given before the lawsuits were filed.
In April 2004, it was announced that the music industry is
suing 477 more computer users. They have continued this practice.
Students at Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, and UMass have
faced such lawsuits.
In recent years, the RIAA has continued to become more aggressive in its efforts to
curtail ocpyright infringements (see the information on "early
settlement letters" below). In 2007 more than 10 Mount Holyoke College
students faced RIAA lawsuits.
What you should know
The University of Chicago has some good documents about filesharing
and what you should know. They also describe
how to disable filesharing on your computer so that you are not serving out
copyrighted materials. (Links open in a new window or tab.)
The University of Chicago Network Security Center main page also
has documents on "Recovering from a Compromise" (reformat the hard
drive and reinstall the operating system), "General Security",
and specific pages for security of various desktop computer operating
systems.
Paid services may not be legal
There are web sites that you can pay for which state or imply that
you will receive legal copies of music. While there are legitimate
sites, many are not. For more information and a partial list of
sites that may put you at risk of lawsuit see this
Center for
Democracy and Technology web page (in a new tab or window).
Even if you have obtained music legally, you do not have the right to
distribute that to others. Distributing legally obtained music
may put you at risk of a lawsuit. (Some services such as iTunes
may allow for limited redistribution; you should read license agreements
carefully to be sure.)
Network access
The College network is a shared community resource.
You may be removed from that resource if you do things
such as:
- Take more than your fair share of the resource.
- Interfere with others' uses of that resource.
- Allow those outside the College to use College resources.
- Pose a potential security risk to the College network or
computers on that network.
- Engage in illegal activities using College resources.
Copyright violation complaints and quarantining
At Mount Holyoke College, we take copyright violations very
seriously.
If we receive a credible complaint for a copyright violation,
your computer, you will be informed of this complaint so that you
can respond appropriately (which often amounts to removing the
infringing material).
Although the College takes copyright infringement very seriously,
we do not automatically pass judgement based on allegations from others.
However, if there is a complaint, your computer
may be removed from access to off-campus Internet
resources. This is not a punishment; it is a process that
helps ensure prompt action with regard to the complaint and
stops the computer from distributing copyrighted materials,
if any. We call this "quarantining" the computer
to on-campus access.
If you have been informed of such quarantining and your computer
retains off-campus access for some reason, you should reply
to the warning message that this did not occur. Failure to abide
by a quarantine for any reason is contrary to our acceptable
use policies.
Lifting the quarantine
To have your machine reinstated to off-campus Internet access, the College
must be assured that you are not illegally serving any copyrighted
materials to any other computer, on campus or off, and that you
have removed the offending copyrighted materials. You need
to reply to all recipients of the notification of copyright violation
complaint.
To comply with the
Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA),
in your reply back to the copyright complaint, you must include
the sentence: "I certify that my computer is not serving any copyrighted
material to any other computer and I have removed the copyrighted
materials." You also need to explain exactly what
you did to accomplish this. Being clear about this will reduce the
chance of any delay in lifting the quarantine.
If your computer is quarantined, the problem must be dealt with.
Having your machine quarantined to on-campus access does not relieve
you of the responsibility for ceasing to serve copyrighted materials.
If your computer is quarantined, you will need to find another computer
to view the off-campus links found in this document.
Legal action and lawsuits
Unlike the copyright infringement complaint described above,
the College may be presented
with a statement of intent to file a lawsuit against an alleged
copyright infringer.
The RIAA has used these statements of intent to provide a mechanism
for what they call early settlement so that the individual
can avoid a lawsuit. In 2007 we heard that these early settlements
were $3000, but that number could change. The RIAA asserts that
the cost to settle increases if they have to issue a subpoena to
determine the identity the alleged copyright infringer.
(The RIAA has information about this at
www.p2plawsuits.com.)
If the College receives such a message, we forward the electronic letter
to your College email address so that you can make an informed
decision how to proceed.
The College may be served with a subpoena to reveal the identity
of the individual whose computer was engaged in copyright infringement.
This action is a necessary pre-condition for a lawsuit since the College
does not provide the identity without a subpoena.
Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the College is
not a party to any copyright related lawsuits with students. Legally,
the College is functioning as an Internet Service Provider (ISP).
The College is not passing judgement on whether or not the allegations
are valid.
We are very sorry, but the College is not able to provide any legal advice
on how to proceed. That is up to you. It is important that you read
any information you receive about such matters very carefully.
If you get into this kind of situation, it is best to involve your
family in discussions and consider obtaining legal advice from
your own attorney.
Summary notes
- A copyright infringement warning does not necessarily lead to a lawsuit.
-
Complying with a warning and ceasing copyright infringement
does not necessarily protect you from a lawsuit for the
copyright infringement. Presumably it does reduce your exposure.
-
Finally, it is not necessarily the case that you will receive a warning
before a lawsuit is initiated. The first Mount Holyoke student who
was sued did not receive any warning.
Do not be lulled into a sense of security because you see "everyone
doing it". Whether or not others are, it is contrary to current
copyright law and it can have very expensive consequences.
Your computer account and College policies
Here are some additional links:
A frequently asked questions document on copyright from Purdue
Mount Holyoke College network facts and policies
Bandwidth use and misuse
Security, general
Security for Windows
How RIAA catches..., The Chronicle of Higher Education
