Computer Usage Limitations
This message was sent to all Faculty, Staff, and Students with approval of the Office of the Vice Provost.
To the Campus Community:
All of us have heard about the recent actions taken by the recording and motion picture industries to stop what they perceive as illegal copying of music and movies through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing programs. These industries and other content providers take seriously their interests. Materials such as music and movies continue to be protected by copyright even when freely available on the Web.
The law that applies to these issues is copyright law, and, in particular, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The DMCA sets out procedures copyright owners can follow to put a stop to infringing activities. It allows copyright owners to formally notify an alleged infringer's internet service provider (ISP) to take action against the alleged infringer or itself become liable for the alleged infringements. For faculty and staff and students using University provided digital and internet connections, the University is the ISP. The DMCA also permits the copyright owner to require the ISP to reveal the personal identity of the alleged infringer, so that the copyright owner can sue the user directly.
Over the past year, the University of Washington, like most other colleges and universities, has received DMCA notices alleging copyright infringement over University computing networks. The University does not tolerate or condone copyright infringement over University networks. Many University faculty and staff hold copyrights in their scholarly or professional work and artistry, and just as their rights need to be protected, so do others around the world deserve equal protection of their rights. Furthermore, large-scale file sharing can severely burden University servers and systems, making it more difficult and costly to meet the legitimate needs of University systems users.
Granting access to University computer connections for email and internet use carries with it certain conditions. Those conditions include that students, faculty, and staff will not use them in ways that violate others' copyright interests. We ask that you abide by those conditions. Those who do not may face disciplinary action and permanent bans from access to University computing systems. This could be devastating to students performing coursework and faculty and staff completing job assignments.
The University's computing policy regarding compliance with copyright law is available at http://www.washington.edu/computing/rules/copyright.html. Please review it. In addition, the American Council on Education has issued an informative white paper on peer-to-peer file sharing, which we commend to your reading. It is available at: http://web.archive.org/web/20040328065623/www.acenet.edu/washington/legalupdate/2003/P2P.pdf.
Sincerely,
Steven G. Olswang
Vice Provost
If you have questions or concerns about this issue, please reply to provost@u.washington.edu.
