Cayan Library
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
This page has been adapted with permission from an official publication of SUNY Plattsburgh.
In these pages, we hope to provide you with information about how the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) affects you. If have questions after reading this material, please contact:
Daniel R. Schabert
Director of Libraries and Learning Resources
SUNYIT
P.O. Box 3050
Utica, NY 13504
Telephone: (315) 792-7308
Fax: (315) 792-7517
E-mail: schabert@sunyit.edu
In a few words
SUNYIT must abide by law as it is set down in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. As such, SUNYIT does not allow students to use its network resources for the illegal sharing of music, video, software, and game files.
The Perils of P2P (Peer-to-Peer file sharing)
In 2003, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has been targeting music traders, using the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to force internet service providers to reveal identities of users, using search "bots" to ferret out file traders, and sending a whole lot of threatening letters to the traders and to the institutions and organizations that provide the traders with internet connectivity.
In April 2003, college students became particular targets as the RIAA began filing civil suits seeking compensation for damages of up to $150,000 per offence; four broadly publicized cases wound up costing the students involved $12,000-17,000 in damages. And in June 2003, the RIAA announced that it was planning to step up its efforts.
Students can't afford these sorts of damages, and colleges can't afford to have their networks compromised or threatened by legal actions. Illegal file-sharing activities put both the college and its students at risk.
