In response to the RIAA and MPAA's campaign against file-sharing, the University of Kansas has announced a stringent policy for students found sharing copyrighted content on the university network. Students fingered for file-sharing would be kicked off of the residence hall network, although they would still be able to use campus computer labs.
A brief notice on the University of Kansas ResNet site explains the university's new position very succinctly. "If you are caught downloading copyrighted material, you will lose your ResNet privileges forever," reads the notice. "No second notices, no excuses, no refunds. One violation and your ResNet internet access is gone for as long as you reside on campus." Presumably, the University is referring to illegally downloaded copyrighted material, as there is plenty of copyrighted material that can be downloaded legally.
Formerly, KU had a three strikes policy, but the new policy is one of the most stringent we have seen. Other schools have tightened their policies on copyright infringement since Big Content ratcheted up its fight against on-campus file-sharing. For one, Stanford University has made file-sharing a potentially very expensive proposition with its reconnection fees. First-time offenders will have to pay a $100 reconnection fee, with subsequent offenses assessed reconnection fees of $500 and $1,000. Along with the $1,000 fee, students will be referred to Judicial Affairs for disciplinary action after a third offense.
Ohio University has taken a different approach to file-sharing, choosing to ban all P2P traffic from its network. Although it has had the effect of shutting down some of the file-sharing that occurs on its campus network, it has also had the effect of pushing some of the P2P traffic to darknets.
A KU spokesperson told the Lawrence Journal-World that the increased number of takedown notices has led to the new policy. The school received 345 complaints in 2005, up from 141 the year before. "It's serious business. Students need to take notice," KU spokesman Todd Cohen told the Journal-World. Cohen also noted that the school had received 23 prelitigation settlement letters from the RIAA on the same day the new policy was announced.
Another factor in KU's move may be recent rumblings from Congress. In May, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) of the House Judiciary Committee issued an ominous warning to schools, telling them that they need to do something about piracy or Congress would be forced to act. "We want to know exactly what they plan to do to stop illegal downloading on their campuses," said Smith. "Universities have a moral and legal obligation to ensure students do not use campus computers for illegal downloading."
The end result may be an expensive technological arms race between schools and technologically-savvy students. KU's new policy is likely to have the desired effect of discouraging most casual P2P users while driving towards darknets.
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