Emporia State University Peer to Peer File Sharing Statement

 

Emporia State University‘s security policies are in place to help not only protect Emporia State University’s information, but to set standards on acceptable computing using Emporia State’s internet access. Emporia State’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) policy states:

“...users of internet services and equipment provided by Emporia State are responsible for their compliance with all copyright laws pertaining to information they place on or retrieve from the internet.”

Emporia State’s DMCA policy references unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material, including music, movies, games and software distributed from a computer using peer-to-peer applications. Distributing copyrighted works without explicit permission from the copyright owner is considered theft and is a violation of Emporia State policy and Federal copyright law. Unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material, including unauthorized peer-to-peer file sharing, may subject students to civil and criminal liabilities including, but not limited to:

 

1.

Actual damages or "statutory" damages affixed at not less than $750 and not more than $30,000 per work infringed

2.

"Willful" infringement up to $150,000 per work infringed

3.

Court costs

4.

Attorney fees

5.

"Willful" infringement can also result in criminal penalties, including imprisonment of up to five years and fines of up to $250,000 per offense


With each peer-to-peer file sharing notification of alleged copyright infringement, Emporia State is held to a standard to:

1.

Identify the computer used during the alledged incident using information given in the notification

2.

Remove the computer from the ESU network

3.

Notify the computer owner to remove the copyrighted mateial including notifyng the Associate Vice President for Student Life

4.

Verify the copyrighted material is removed prior to allowing the computer back onto the network

If further copyright infringements occur, the computer owner could lose Emporia State University network access permanently.