File Sharing – how and why illegal media is found and punished at Cal U

By Erica Zechender – For the Cal Times

I live in my iPod, whether I am walking through campus, drowning out the chaos of the union during common hour or working out in our new gym, I am plugged in; and I know I am not the only one. Thinking about how intricately music is woven into my everyday existence, I began to consider the sources of where I get my music.

File sharing, downloading or allowing others to download digitally stored information from your hard drive, is completely legal. However, it becomes illegal when you begin downloading or uploading files that are protected by copyright laws.

How do you know if something is under copyright? A general rule of thumb is that if the file can be purchased, it is probably under copyright. For example, music, movies and books are all downloadable, purchasable and almost always under copyright.

Like most people, I have downloaded my share of music from whatever happened to be the most convenient program at the time, thinking that no one could identify me. Unfortunately I was wrong. As several Cal students have quickly found out, your computer can be identified for file sharing regardless of what program you use. Once identified, you can be subject to up to one year in jail and thousands of dollars in fines.

On a more direct level, Cal U views illegal downloading as a violation of the computer use policy and seeks to take an educational approach to solving this problem. For a first offense, Cal U will block the internet access to a student’s computer for two weeks in addition to having to meet with the Assistant Dean for Student Conduct, Jim Pflugh, who will determine if there was an actual violation of university policy. If it is determined there was a violation, the student will be required to complete an online educational program that goes over social etiquette online and copyright laws among other subjects. Once the online portion is complete, the student will take a test indicating their level of comprehension.

In the event that a student is reported for illegal file sharing a second time, their internet access is blocked for a month, they are placed on university probation (separate from academic probation) and they are required to complete another online program, this time focusing on decision making.

Jim Pflugh explained that it is not the university itself who monitors students’ usage of their internet access. When a student begins downloading large amounts of files, it slows down the network as a whole, and the university receives complaints from motion picture and music labels that hold the copyrights to the files being shared illegally.

Technology is great, but with such a great risk that could lead to serious consequences, every student should ask, “is this song really worth it?” Hopefully the answer for all of us is “no.”

educational program that goes over social etiquette online and copyright laws among other subjects. Once the online portion is complete, the student will take a test indicating their level of comprehension.

In the event that a student is reported for illegal file sharing a second time, their internet access is blocked for a month, they are placed on university probation (separate from academic probation) and they are required to complete another online program, this time focusing on decision making.

Jim Pflugh explained that it is not the university itself who monitors students’ usage of their internet access. When a student begins downloading large amounts of files, it slows down the network as a whole, and the university receives complaints from motion picture and music labels that hold the copyrights to the files being shared illegally.

Technology is great, but with such a great risk that could lead to serious consequences, every student should ask, “is this song really worth it?” Hopefully the answer for all of us is “no.”