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Students Warned of “Serious Consequences” for Copyright Infringement
Rensselaer students were once again warned of the risks involved in downloading and sharing music files and other examples of copyright infringement. In a memo sent to all new and returning students Aug. 18, senior campus administrators advised them to “carefully evaluate your activities with computers and the Internet.”
Rensselaer has policies on acceptable use of its information technology resources, which users must agree to uphold when they receive their Rensselaer Computing System accounts. These policies specifically prohibit the infringement of copyright.
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Eddie Ade Knowles, vice president for student life, John Kolb, chief information officer, and G.P. “Bud” Peterson, provost, issued the memo to remind students of the “serious consequences” faced by those who disregard the rules.
Last spring, the record industry filed multimillion-dollar lawsuits against four college students for facilitating the sharing of MP3 files, two of whom were enrolled at Rensselaer. A recent Pew Internet & American Life study found that 82 percent of file-sharers aged 18 through 29 “don’t care much about the copyright status of the files they share.” The memo states that “you may share these views, but if you act on them, your actions could have serious consequences.”
Rensselaer has policies on acceptable use of its information technology resources, which users must agree to uphold when they receive their Rensselaer Computing System accounts. These policies specifically prohibit the infringement of copyright.
For more information about copyright and campus policies, read the Rensselaer Policy on Electronic Citizenship at http://www.rpi.edu/web/comec or the Research Libraries “Hot Topics” Web site at http://www.lib.rpi.edu/services/reserves/copyrighttopics.html.
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