Cayan Library
What the DMCA means at SUNYIT
This page has been adapted with permission from an official publication of SUNY Plattsburgh.
Major copyright holders, including software companies, video distributors, game producers, and the RIAA, have the resources, the technology, and the legal authority of the DMCA to find and prosecute individuals who share copyrighted materials over the college's network connections.
SUNYIT must follow the law as prescribed by the DMCA, and the college cannot encourage, permit, or otherwise condone the illegal sharing of copyrighted materials. When notified of copyright violations, the college has the obligation to insist on the removal of illegal copyrighted materials. Violators can face a number of college sanctions including a reprimand, denial of network access, disciplinary probation, or even suspension.
Because the copyright holders are diligently watching network activities, SUNYIT has already had to contend with many complaints of copyright violation. The question now is not whether you'll get caught, but when charges will be laid.
What the DMCA means to you
Quite simply, the DMCA means you cannot violate copyright law. You cannot distribute copyrighted materials (i.e. movies or CDs or games or software). You can't rip a CD and share the tracks with others; you can't duplicate a game or a software disc and pass it along to your friends; you can't dub a movie and pass the copy to anyone else.
Furthermore, you cannot possess or acquire illegal copies. It may be possible to download the last Eminem disc from a trader's site, but that doesn't mean it's legal to do so. If anyone aside from the copyright holder is making the files available, it's unlikely that the files are legal.
Much of the material you're likely to come across via P2P file sharing programs is probably suspect, and a little common sense can save you a world of trouble - that "free" copy of a new CD or software title is likely to be an illegal copy, and you would do well to avoid it.
As a matter of campus policy, you cannot run a file server while connected to the college's network: stay away from P2P file sharing programs, and most DMCA issues will disappear.