Digital Millennium Copyright Act
What happens when the university receives a DMCA copyright infringement complaint?
Why Did I Get a DMCA Complaint
Be Aware You're Uploading (BAYU)
Additional DMCA Links and Resources
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), enacted in 1998, updated copyright law to encompass the growing use of computers and the internet, and intellectual property in digital forms. Copyright law protects the intellectual property of the original author(s) of a work in any medium. Copyright law is a federal law and does not vary from state to state.
Campus computer networks are often used to reproduce and distribute copyrighted music, movies, television shows, pictures, and software through the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. P2P file sharing applications allow a computer to connect to a P2P network, and once connected, make it possible to download and share files with other users on the network. P2P networking has been around for many years, but file sharing applications such as LimeWire, KaZaA and BitTorrent have made it easy to trade files with people around the world.
In April 2003, members of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) began filing civil suits, first against students at Michigan Tech, Princeton University, and Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute seeking substantial damages for copyright infringement. (Those cases were quickly settled, with each of the student defendants agreeing to pay more than $12,000 in damages.) The RIAA quickly expanded their efforts to include other campuses, including Iowa State University. The RIAA has pursued litigation against 60 ISU students for copyright violations since the Spring of 2007. It is important to us that our students understand that this can occur, and that they have enough information to prevent it from happening to them. The RIAA has currently discontinued its practice of pursuing litigation, and has now begun working more with independent internet service providers, as well as continuing to send complaints to colleges and universities.
When Iowa State University receives a complaint from a copyright holder, we notify the individual involved and pass along any information received from the copyright holder to that individual. We do not supply any information to the copyright holder about the individual involved unless a valid subpoena is presented.
Below are links to information about copyrights as well as the DMCA.
U.S. Copyright Office Summary of DMCA
(PDF)
A Primer on Distance Learning and Intellectual Property
Issues
EDUCAUSE
Statement on Copyright Office Interim Regulations for 'Service Providers'
U.S. Copyright Office - Library of Congress
What happens when the university receives a DMCA copyright infringement complaint?
- The notification goes to Instructional Technology Services (ITS) and is reviewed to determine if it meets the DMCA requirements.
- The registered user of the machine connected to the identified Internet Address (IP#) at the time of the observed incident is determined.
- If the registered user is a student, the identification information and the DMCA complaint are sent to Judicial Affairs (http://www.dso.iastate.edu/ja/) in the Dean of Students Office. Otherwise the complaint is handled by the DMCA agent.
- An email is sent by the Office of Judicial Affairs to the user who registered the machine. The email includes information about copyright infringement, specifics included in the complaint, and requires the user to remove any unauthorized copyrighted material from their computer and to respond within 48 hours.
- If there is no response or the complaint is not satisfied within 48 hours, then network access for the machine is disconnected until the complaint is resolved.
- First offenses are recorded but do not include University judicial action.
- Second offenses involve judicial charges for Misuse of Computers, a violation of the Student Disciplinary Regulations, and require a hearing with a representative from Judicial Affairs. If found responsible through the judicial process, students face disciplinary sanctions such as conduct probation, network restriction or termination of network access, or other possible conduct decisions.
- Third or subsequent offenses are likely to result in termination of network access.
Why Did I Get a DMCA Complaint?
Often students that receive DMCA complaint emails have questions about why they received a complaint. There are typically fairly few reasons that this may have occurred. The most common reasons for DMCA complaints are as follows:
- A student has some type of peer-to-peer file sharing program on their computer (LimeWire, BitTorrent, etc) that has copyrighted files (music, movies, TV shows, books, software, etc) on it, and when they log onto the ISU network, an outside association was able to "see" this file(s) at the student's IP address (so it was being shared).
- A student has put their own files from a CD, DVD, software, etc onto a peer-to-peer file sharing program thinking it was okay because they owned the files, but receive a complaint because the files are being shared.
- A student lives off-campus and has used their peer-to-peer file sharing program for a long time, but when they come to campus and log onto the ISU network, they receive a complaint because the files are being shared on this network.
- Student #1 has a wireless router, and they have let their roommate (student #2) have their password to work on the internet. Student #1 does not have a peer-to-peer filesharing program, but their roommate does - and because student #2 is using the wireless router (which is registered to student #1) to connect to the internet, student #1 will receive the complaint.
- A student has a friend or family member visit for the weekend, and this person uses the ISU student's computer to download and/or share files on a peer-to-peer program. Whoever the device is registered to (the ISU student) will be responsible for the complaint.
- A student has a wireless router which they have not properly password protected because it makes their network slower (or some similar reason), and though they do not have a peer-to-peer file sharing program, they receive a DMCA complaint because someone else is using their network access to download/share files.
- A student has helped a friend register their computer on the ISU network, and has accidentally registered this device to themself, so when their friend uses their computer to share files, the complaint comes for the wrong student. These complaints need to be reassigned to the person that actually owns the device in question.
All of these scenarios can result in DMCA complaints. Prior to passing the information on to Judicial Affairs, IT Services reviews each complaint to ensure it is valid. There are times when we need to further investigate a complaint, but 99% of the time, one of the above situations has occurred.
DMCA Compliance Information
Pursuant to the Act, Iowa State University has designated the following agent for notification of copyright infringement claims:
Mike Bowman
Director of IT Security and Policies
201 Durham Hall
Ames, IA 50011
294-2588
mbowman@iastate.edu
Be Aware You're Uploading (BAYU)
In the Fall 2009, Iowa State University began using a program designed to help detect potential incidents of filesharing. The program is purely preventative, in that it will notify network users of the activity detected. If you receive an email from the program, you may want to ensure that you are not sharing copyrighted files on a peer-to-peer filesharing program, that you do not have a wireless router that is not password protected (and that others could be using to share files), and that you have not given your internet access to a roommate, friend, etc that has downloaded a program to share copyrighted materials.
More information about the BAYU program is available at: http://bayu.its.iastate.edu/.
Additional DMCA Links and Resources
Below are additional links to information about Peer-to-Peer File Sharing, Copyright Law and the DMCA.
http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf
http://www.chillingeffects.org/index.cgi
http://www.it.iastate.edu/security/p2p/
http://www.it.iastate.edu/talkaboutit/filesharing/
http://policy.iastate.edu/policy/it/ethics/
http://www.riaa.com/faq.php
http://www.mpaa.org/piracy.asp
http://security.uchicago.edu/guidelines/peer-to-peer/
(Disabling Peer-to-Peer File Sharing)
http://law.richmond.edu/ipi/whatdoyouthink.htm
http://www.techtransfer.iastate.edu/en/for_iowa_state/educational_resources/copyrights.cfm
(Copyright Basics)
http://www.dso.iastate.edu/ja/presentations/dmcabrochure.pdf
Legal Downloading Sites(PDF)
For additional questions, please contact Sara Kellogg in the Dean of Students Office at 294-1021.
