Days after being identified as the nation's leader in music download notifications, Ohio University has revised its enforcement policy for copyright infringement.
Letters to the university complaining of copyright infringement ' sent from the Recording Industry Association of America, Motion Picture Association of America, software companies and others ' will now result in students losing Internet access and possible referral to judiciaries for a first offense, said Kent Smith, vice president for Student Affairs.
With 1,287 notifications this academic year from the RIAA, OU leads the list by 219 notifications. Purdue University ranked second and the University of Nebraska third on the list of notifications; no other school had above 1,000 notifications.
It has to be substantiated before students are referred to judiciaries
Smith said. Just because we receive a letter doesn't mean students will be referred.
The university hasn't changed its policy on copyright violation, Smith said, only how it is enforced. A task force of four students and four administrators is being created to give recommendations for reducing copyright infringement.
What we've been doing hasn't sent the right message to students said Shawn Ostermann, interim chief information officer. If the first offense is serious, students might take file sharing more seriously, he said.
This change in policy enforcement is the latest in a series that began this September. Before this school year, first-time offenders received an e-mail warning and a subsequent offense resulted in a student losing Internet access until they removed the offending file.
Because of an increased volume of notifications this year, the university began immediately cutting off Internet access to offenders in the fall. Students who called tech support could have their Internet turned on after removing the files in question. This was designed to reduce the workload for IT staff.
We're trying to find a way to not increase (the staff's) workload a lot Ostermann said. Although the details of how IT staff will enforce the policy are still being formulated, there is no question it will be enforced, Smith said.
The most recent policy change was made Friday morning after a meeting between representatives from information technology, student affairs, legal affairs and judiciaries. It was announced in an e-mail sent to OU's more than 20,000 students Friday afternoon.
If students are downloading illegally
we're asking them to cease
Smith said. The penalty for copyright infringement through file sharing on the university's network could be suspension or expulsion.
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