Volume CXXXIII, Number 7 October 26, 2001 f

Students stymied by copyright violations
JAMES FISHER
ORIENT STAFF

Computing and Information Services administrators have disabled the on-campus ethernet ports of several students in recent weeks at the behest of Sony Music Entertainment, Inc.

For senior Eric Morin, the semester was only a few days old when "one day, I woke up and tried to use my Internet, and it wasn't on." Morin and a roommate checked some settings on his computer and then spoke to some friends who worked for Computing and Information Services; they did not have an easy explanation.

NetPD, a company that monitors file-sharing networks on behalf of media companies, had spotted Morin's Internet activity. NetPD software observed an Incubus song, "Wish You Were Here," which was being downloaded from Morin's computer. Morin said he was unaware that his computer was serving the song up to other Internet users.

In an email to CIS, NetPD invoked the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a 1998 law that has often been invoked in music sharing and DVD copy protection disputes. "We request that you remove the site or delete the infringing sound files," NetPD wrote, " or that you disable access to this site or the infringing files being offered via your system."

A legal document signed last spring designated Bowdoin as an online service provider (OSP) in the context of the DMCA. Under that law, OSPs have specific obligations to prevent copyright infringement when they are appropriately notified of it.

Charles Banks, associate director for network and operations at CIS, said that Bowdoin "is not in search of, or really have interest in what people do on their personal machines. We are not actively pursuing this."

Throughout September and October, six more students were singled out by
NetPD. One member of the Information Technology Committee said that at least three students were identified this week. Some of the affected students said that their ethernet ports were switched off days before anyone from the College told them why. Morin said that his access was down for 10 days before Security contacted him.

Another student said that four days passed before she was contacted by Banks, who explained to her what had happened: NetPD noticed that her computer was sharing a specific Michael Jackson song via Aimster, a file-sharing program that uses the popular AOL Instant Messenger network. "I will never download music ever again," she said.

Banks said, "There was no specific regimen of steps in place to deal with this particular issue," which accounted for the lag time between CIS's legally required action and notification of students. The deans involved and the IT committee will agree on and disseminate guidelines for students concerned about copyright infringement issues "within a week," Banks said.

The policy discussions, which are underway in deans' offices, are now putting CIS's 'takedown' policies temporarily on hold. "Until this policy is rattled out," Banks said, "we're not taking folks off the Net."

The DMCA directs OSPs to remove offending material "expeditiously", but does not require immediate action. The law allows OSPs to act within two weeks in order to be able to "putback" user access, once the materials have been removed.

CIS has taken advantage of that two-week window to restore Internet access as soon as possible to the users who were deprived of it. "We certainly do not want to disrupt academic pursuits," said Banks, "but we are bound by federal law to take some kind of action."

Many students said Bowdoin's own current computer use policies were not mentioned in discussions with CIS and deans about the copyright violations. The Information Technology Use Policy, adapted in June 2001, states, "Users must comply with all copyright, trademark, and intellectual property laws," but does not specifically mention file sharing. The Copyright Policy, also adopted this summer, declares, "As defined in the DMCA, the College will apply 'take down' procedures or block access to materials that are claimed to be in violation of copyright and are properly reported".

The Copyright Policy is online at http://academic.bowdoin.edu/copyright/index.shtml.

John Meyers '02 said that the Student Computing Committee has discussed the NetPD reports at two meetings and concluded, "A lot of people weren't aware of the DMCA and the issues around it." His concerns were echoed by first year Heather Wish, who temporarily lost her Internet access a week ago after downloading the same Incubus song that Morin did. "I feel that the school should tell you about it," Wish said. "I had no idea." Meyers said the SCC was bringing its input to the deans and the IT committee and will distribute a letter about the issue "as soon as possible".