UCLA plans to clarify file-sharing sanctions
By Erin Benke
March 11, 2004 9:00 p.m.
Starting spring quarter, students may think twice before
distributing copyrighted material over the Internet.
The UCLA administration plans to impose a more systematic
process for sanctioning students who repeatedly violate the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act.
The DMCA, which was signed into federal law October 1998 and
went into effect two years later, makes it illegal to copy and
distribute copyrighted material over the Internet.
The administration will be working in upcoming weeks to provide
students with clearer guidelines of the step-by-step process of
what occurs when a student is caught in the act of illegal
file-sharing.
There has been a rise in the number of repeat offenders of the
DMCA since the law went into effect, said Jim Davis, associate vice
chancellor of information technology. As a result, UCLA is making
sanctions for breaking the law more explicit to inform students of
the steps taken when the law is violated.
“Up until now, we’ve only been addressing new
offenders. But with the increase in repeat offenders, we now have
to expand what we’re dealing with,” he said.
Davis said though the law is not new, he feels the sanction
process has been unclear to students.
“Students are not aware of what the process is right now,
nor do they understand fully the ramifications of
downloading,” Davis said.
Though it is the university that places sanctions on violators,
it is not the administration that monitors students’
computers for illegal material on the Internet, Davis said.
Instead, copyright holding companies, such as the Recording
Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association
of America, monitor students’ Internet use by using
peer-to-peer networks to pose as users.
They scan university networks, such as those of UCLA, and submit
to the universities the IP addresses of the students they catch
with illegal material, he added.
To comply with the act upon receiving notification from these
companies, UCLA responds, as stated in the law, by
“expeditiously removing or disabling the allegedly infringing
material.”
Davis said that while the university does not remove content
from computers, it will remove network services that allow illegal
file-sharing.
Davis said UCLA is determined to take a balanced approach at
sanctioning students and will allow the violating student to keep
network services needed in order to “function on
campus.”
UCLA has received about 300 notices from copyright holding
companies on student violations since July 2003, and between 70 and
75 percent of claims point to the residence halls.
Davis said though this law applies to all students, only
students living in university housing can be sanctioned by the
administration because they use the university’s
networks.
Some students who live on campus think the policy is unfair
because it only targets them.
But students like Kyle Bowen, a second-year undeclared student
who lives in the dormitories, said since residents use UCLA’s
network, the university should be able to regulate
file-sharing.
“If it’s on their network, and if they could be held
responsible at all, then they should be able to regulate it. If
not, then they should step back,” Bowen said.
Robert Naples, dean of students, said the university gets
involved in file-sharing situations because its presence on campus
could have a detrimental effect on UCLA’s image.
“We take seriously illegal activity going on at UCLA. If
it comes to our attention we get involved because it involves the
integrity of the institution,” Naples said.
Students should be aware that file-sharing is treated no
differently than any other offense laid out in the student code of
conduct, Naples said.
Sanctions are not set based on the number of file-sharing
offenses. Instead, there is a wide range of sanctions that can
include anything from a warning to expulsion.
Naples said his office “looks at the severity of the
situation and acts accordingly utilizing the range of sanctions
delineated in the Student Code of Conduct.”
He added that the university makes sure students who are caught
by the companies get “due process” and a full
investigation before any sanctions are implemented.
Naples said this rule is not new to the students but will be
problematic for students who believe downloading is their
“God-given right.”
“These students will learn the hard way,” Naples
said.
