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From: Ramagli, Howard
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 1:29 PM
To: All Students
Cc: All Faculty and Staff
Subject: IMPORTANT: File-sharing of Music and Movies


To All Students:

As we begin the new academic year, we want to remind you of one of your responsibilities under the College's Technology Acceptable Use Policy (at http://www.lynchburg.edu/x1031.xml) and in the Honor and Student Conduct Codes and Regulations section of The Hornet student handbook. Specifically we want to remind you that it is against the law and a violation of the College's conduct codes to engage in file-sharing of copyrighted materials such as music and movies. Please note that the illegal distribution of copyrighted materials may subject you to criminal and civil penalties.

The College does not condone illegal downloading and file-sharing. Should the College receive a notification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), or other organizations detailing a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which notes the sharing of music, movies, or other copyrighted material, the College will act in the following ways:

  1. On the first notification from an external entity, the student will receive a letter of instruction to remove the offending material and to cease unauthorized downloading. Also, the student must complete an educational task regarding downloading or pay a $50 fine.
  2. On the second notification from an external entity, the student's computer will be prevented from accessing the College network until the student removes the offending material and presents his/her computer for review by the Information Technology and Resources staff. Also, the student will be assessed a $75 fine.
  3. On the third notification from an external entity, the student's computer will be prevented from accessing the College network for the remainder of the semester. Also, the student will be assessed a $100 fine.

Fines assessed for copyright violations will be used to defray the costs of: 1) software licensing and hardware maintenance necessary for monitoring the College's network and identifying violators in response to complaints from external entities; and 2) educational efforts promoting compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Please be aware that the RIAA and the MPAA have stepped up their efforts to enforce copyrights. In 2008-09, Lynchburg College received approximately 250 copyright violation notifications. During the summer of 2009, two individuals found guilty of illegally downloading songs were fined $22,500 and $80,000 per song, resulting in total fines of $675,000 and $1.9 million, respectively.

For-pay services to access music and movies (iTunes, Napster, and others) are readily available to you. In addition, there are numerous sites on the web from which you can stream music and movies using a web browser. We strongly encourage you to use these services. For more information about file-sharing do's and don'ts, go to http://www.lynchburg.edu/x1032.xml.

Thank you for your attention to this matter, and have a great semester.

Sincerely,

Carole Furter
Associate Dean of Students

Howard J. Ramagli, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President of Information Technology and Resources