From:
Graves, Diane J.
Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009 8:32 AM
To: Trinity Students
Subject: File Sharing Software removal reminder
Welcome back to campus and the new school year!
This note will serve as a reminder to returning students, and an introduction for new students.
For whatever reason, college students are a primary focus of the entertainment industry’s efforts to stop file sharing, and my job is to inform you of the risks associated with sharing copyrighted files without permission.
If you used any kind of peer-to-peer software before arriving on campus, please make sure you have uninstalled it before you reconnect to the Trinity network—or as soon as possible after you connect.
While the RIAA*, MPAA**, ESA*** and their members are concerned about file sharing on home computers, their emphasis has been on activity at colleges and universities. They use exactly the same software (BitTorrent and other “torrent” software, Gnutella and others that run on that platform, like LimeWire) to identify files being made available from university IP ranges. When they identify files, they send me a DMCA**** take-down notice (an RIAA example follows). For more on how the industry detects files, see this article from the Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i37/37a01101.htm
If you are unsure how to uninstall the software, ITS has created a how-to page: http://iraa.trinity.edu/iraa/x540.xml
I understand that many of you have concerns about these notices and related privacy issues. If you want to become more involved in this and related issues, check out Free Culture http://freeculture.org/ --specifically the student chapters.
Thanks, and welcome to the new academic year!
Diane Graves
University Librarian
Copyright officer
*RIAA: Recording Industry Association of America
**MPAA: Motion Picture Association of America
***Entertainment Software Association (i.e. gaming software)
****Digital Millennium Copyright Act
VIA EMAIL
June 01, 2009
Trinity University
1 Trinity Place
San Antonio, TX 78212
Re: Copyright infringement
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am contacting you on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America, Inc. (RIAA) and its member record companies. The RIAA is a trade association whose member companies create, manufacture, and distribute approximately 85% percent of all legitimate music sold in the United States. Under penalty of perjury, we submit that the RIAA is authorized to act on behalf of its member companies in matters involving the infringement of their sound recordings, including enforcing their copyrights and common law rights on the Internet.
We believe a user on your network is offering an infringing sound recording for download through a peer to peer application. We have attached below the details of the infringing activity.
We have a good faith belief that this activity is not authorized by copyright owners, their agent, or the law. We are asking for your immediate assistance in stopping this unauthorized activity. Specifically, we request that you remove or disable access to the infringing sound recording.
We believe it is in everyone's interest for music consumers to be better educated about the subject of copyright law and music. In addition to taking steps to notify this network user about the illegal nature of this activity, we encourage you to refer him/her to the MUSIC Coalitions website at www.musicunited.org. The site contains valuable information about what's legal and what's not when it comes to copying music.
You should understand that this letter constitutes notice to you that this network user may be liable for the infringing activity occurring on your network. In addition, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, if you ignore this notice, your institution may also be liable for any resulting infringement. This letter does not constitute a waiver of any right to recover damages incurred by virtue of any such unauthorized activities, and such rights as well as claims for other relief are expressly retained. Moreover, this letter does not constitute a waiver of our members' right to sue the user at issue for copyright infringement.
It is likely that this DMCA notice is not the first you have received from us or other copyright owners. Interested in exploring technological options to potentially receiving fewer of these notices? Many universities have implemented technological anti-piracy tools and report receiving fewer copyright infringement notices. Please see here for a listing of some of the businesses that offer network management tools to higher education institutions: http://www.musicunited.org/12_Resources.html
Thank you in advance for your prompt assistance in this matter. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail at antipiracy2@riaa.com, via telephone at 1-800-223-2328, or via mail at RIAA, 1025 F Street, NW, 10th Floor, Washington, D.C., 20004. Please reference Case ID '684834' in any response or communication regarding this infringement.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Landis
Online Copyright Protection
RIAA
List of infringing content
------------------------------
Eric Clapton Layla
-------------------------
INFRINGEMENT DETAIL
--------------------
Infringing Work : Eric Clapton Layla
Filename : Eric Clapton - Layla.mp3
First found (UTC): 2009-06-01T03:14:10.22Z
Last found (UTC): 2009-06-01T03:14:10.22Z
Filesize : 5939931 bytes
IP Address: 131.194.xx.xx
IP Port: xxxxx
Network: Gnutella
Protocol: Gnutella