Respect for a person's work and personal expression is especially critical in a computer environment because electronic information is volatile and easily reproduced. Federal copyright law prohibits the sharing of copyright protected material (music, video, software, printed material) without the owners consent. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 extends traditional copyright issues to the Internet and defines how entities like UNI respond to reported violations.
You need to be aware that:
- running Peer to Peer programs such as Aimster, Morpheus, Audio Galaxy, KaZaA, Gnutella, etc., may turn your PC into a share point without your knowledge.
- sharing or acquiring copyright protected materials (e.g. MP3 music files, MPEG video files, or software) without the owners consent is a violation of Federal copyright law (even if you purchased the CD) which could result in legal proceedings and a hefty fine.
- the recording industry is very interested in protecting their property and is searching the Internet looking for violators.
- UNI considers copyright infringement as a serious violation of University policy and Federal statute that may result in loss of network access, disciplinary action, or both.
Please take action immediately to prevent a potentially damaging situation by:
Stopping the use of (and remove) all sharing programs
Eliminating copyright protected materials that you do not have permission to use
If you have questions about appropriate use of UNI-NET and the copyright policy, please check out these URLs. If you have specific questions, feel free to contact me directly.
Sincerely,
Steve Moon
Director, Network Services
Information Technology Services
University of Northern Iowa
'Agent', Digital Millennium Act
Email: steve.moon@uni.edu
Phone: 319-273-6813
UNI?s Policy on Use of Computing Resources
http://www.uni.edu/pres/policies/954.html
UNI?s Policies on Intellectual Rights and Copyright
http://www.uni.edu/pres/procedur/legal/42-a-1
http://www.uni.edu/its/ad/policies/intellectualproperty.html
Digital Millennium Copyright Act resources
http://www.educause.edu/issues/dmca.html
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