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From the Experts
A regular section in AnteaterNews, “From the Expert” highlights various areas
relating to your UCI student. Different topics will be covered in each issue.

It seems like scarcely a month goes by without a story in the news about students’ disregard for intellectual property rights costing the entertainment and software industry major losses in revenue. There are a number of excellent articles which present a somewhat more balanced view of the situation with regard to higher education (for example, “Get Me Out of the Middle” by Kent Wada), so this piece addresses the situation at UCI via a series of commonly asked questions and answers.

Does UCI receive allegations of copyright infringement?
Yes. On a regular basis. While some are about software, most are from representatives of the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) or of companies belonging to the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America).

What does UCI do when it receives such an allegation?
All such allegations are investigated. When network records indicate that the network connection which is alleged to be involved in the infringement is one for which a student is responsible, the investigation is carried out by Student Judicial Affairs. Investigation carries no presumption of student culpability. Indeed, one very strong reason for investigating such allegations is that the alleged infringement may be an indication of rogue software on a student’s computer without the student’s knowledge.

What do you mean by rogue software?
Software which the student may not even know is on his/her computer or which acts differently than what the student wants or expects. For example, a student may install a piece of software to facilitate legitimate sharing of materials with friends and family only to discover (or fail to discover) that this software’s default configuration to share/distribute a much broader range of materials than the student intended. Sometimes the software is installed by a friend or visitor who is borrowing use of the student’s computer or even “helping the student out” based on (the presumption of) greater technical expertise.

Are you saying that students do not knowingly violate copyright laws?
Of course not. While there are a significant number of cases where the investigation shows that the alleged infringement was outside the student’s knowledge or intent and there are also cases where the allegation is without real basis, there are also many cases where students have knowingly violated copyright laws. Intervening with these students may help them avoid some of the more drastic measures recently employed by the RIAA.

What do you mean by “more drastic measures?”
Starting in early 2007, the RIAA began sending cover letters to universities requesting that enclosed “early settlement” letters be forwarded to students who were unknown to the RIAA but that the universities were supposed to identify on the basis of specific details of network access (“IP address,” date and time) provided by the RIAA. These “early settlement” letters indicated the RIAA’s intent to subpoena and sue the student unless he/she accessed a web site to pay an amount that was not disclosed in the letter. Reports of what that amount turned out to be indicate something between $3,000 and $5,000.

Has UCI received any “early settlement” letters and did it forward them to students?
Yes and yes. The “early settlement” letters were forwarded with cover letters which touched on many of the difficult nuances of the situation: the letters were forwarded in the belief that students would prefer to receive them, not because of the RIAA’s request; the University could not offer legal counsel or representation to the student, but encouraged the student to seek such legal support (and included contact information for the local bar association); there were multiple sources of information on the RIAA’s program including both its (the original RIAA reference provided no longer works; a comparable current RIAA reference is posted on P2P Lawsuits) and that of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

What do you advise students and parents to do?
Aside from the obvious “don’t knowingly copy or make available for copying material you don’t have the right to copy,” what is probably a more important piece of advice is “be very careful with what you install on your computer and what you allow others to install.” There’s a very lot of very good free software and other material, but stay with reputable sites (download.com, not maybeware.somewhere.net). While “common caution and skepticism” may sound trite and dull and while they do not always work, it is amazing how many serious problems their application can avoid.

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