Spring Break
Eau Claire campus cited in illegal music downloading
Nathaniel Shuda
Issue date: 3/1/07 Section: Campus News
Student Senate's Information Technology Commission lent its support Wednesday to a proposal that could shut down network access to computers that contain illegally downloaded music.
Just a week after the Recording Industry Association of America cited UW-Eau Claire as No. 14 on its list of 25 colleges in the nation with the most complaints, members of the university's Learning and Technology Services drafted a proposal to curb such activity.
"The intent is not to punish students but to modify behavior," said Chip Eckardt, manager of desktop computers for LTS.
With Eau Claire receiving 473 notices from the RIAA during the 2006-2007 academic year to date, the new proposal would give students who are cited for illegally downloading music 72 hours to start the appeals process before their computer would be disconnected from the network for 14 days.
Under the current policy, the RIAA contacts the UW System's legal counsel in Madison, which then forwards the complaint to Eau Claire's copyright officer and to LTS. The university then contacts the student about the situation.
However, the problem is, Eckardt said, that Peer2peer programs themselves are not illegal because not all actions taken with such programs violate copyright law.
"It's a tricky situation because students (live) in the dorms, (and) they have a right to privacy," Eckardt said. "We don't look at content at all."
It is the basics of copyright law, officials said, that students need to take a bigger responsibility in finding out more about, a lot of which can be found on RESCOM's Web site.
"If you see anything on the Web for free, more than likely it's stolen," said Chris Cox, director of McIntyre Library and the university's copyright officer.
Cox said that while the university values the privacy of its students, there should be some deterrent to keep students from illegally sharing copyrighted material.
"We protect students' privacy; we don't give out ISP (numbers) to the RIAA," Cox said, explaining that other Internet Service Providers put the organization in direct contact with the violator, while the university deals with students themselves.
Commission members, including Senator Tom Holton, said they agreed.
"I would appreciate 14 days without my computer versus tens of thousands of dollars in fines," Holtan said.
Just a week after the Recording Industry Association of America cited UW-Eau Claire as No. 14 on its list of 25 colleges in the nation with the most complaints, members of the university's Learning and Technology Services drafted a proposal to curb such activity.
"The intent is not to punish students but to modify behavior," said Chip Eckardt, manager of desktop computers for LTS.
With Eau Claire receiving 473 notices from the RIAA during the 2006-2007 academic year to date, the new proposal would give students who are cited for illegally downloading music 72 hours to start the appeals process before their computer would be disconnected from the network for 14 days.
Under the current policy, the RIAA contacts the UW System's legal counsel in Madison, which then forwards the complaint to Eau Claire's copyright officer and to LTS. The university then contacts the student about the situation.
However, the problem is, Eckardt said, that Peer2peer programs themselves are not illegal because not all actions taken with such programs violate copyright law.
"It's a tricky situation because students (live) in the dorms, (and) they have a right to privacy," Eckardt said. "We don't look at content at all."
It is the basics of copyright law, officials said, that students need to take a bigger responsibility in finding out more about, a lot of which can be found on RESCOM's Web site.
"If you see anything on the Web for free, more than likely it's stolen," said Chris Cox, director of McIntyre Library and the university's copyright officer.
Cox said that while the university values the privacy of its students, there should be some deterrent to keep students from illegally sharing copyrighted material.
"We protect students' privacy; we don't give out ISP (numbers) to the RIAA," Cox said, explaining that other Internet Service Providers put the organization in direct contact with the violator, while the university deals with students themselves.
Commission members, including Senator Tom Holton, said they agreed.
"I would appreciate 14 days without my computer versus tens of thousands of dollars in fines," Holtan said.
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