Student Infringement of Media Copyright Policy and Procedures

Policy

As stated in Connecticut College’s Appropriate Use Policy for Computer and Information Resources, the College data network may not be used to violate copyright laws. It is a federal crime to distribute or download copyrighted music, movies, or software on the Internet without permission from the copyright owner. Students are responsible for the appropriate use of the College network under the Student Code of Conduct and the Honor Code.  

The College will notify students when an alleged infringement is reported to Information Services.   Students who do not respond within 72 hours are reported to the Dean of Student Life for additional action and their network access is suspended.   Any student identified for subsequent violations will be reported directly to the Dean of Student Life for potential adjudication under the Honor Code and network access immediately suspended.  

Procedures

1.   Guidance on how to legally obtain online music and media content is provided in “Finding Legal Online Music, and Other Electronic Content” on the Information Services website.

2.   The following procedures will be followed when communication has been received from the Recording Industry of America (RIAA) or other industry representatives by the College’s Designated Copyright Agent indicating that the College’s network has been used to illegally download copyrighted media material online:

a.   On receipt of a pre-litigation notification from the RIAA or other industry representative, the Designated Copyright Agent will:

• Forward the settlement letter to the student;
• Refrain from offering legal advice to the student;
• Refuse to disclose the identity of the student unless presented with a subpoena or other legally valid writ.

Students who receive a "settlement letter” will have to decide how to respond to the RIAA and whether to consult with an attorney.  

b.   On receipt of a “cease-and-desist” order from the RIAA or other industry representative, the Designated Copyright Agent will:

• Forward an electronic copy of the industry notification to the student via campus e-mail.  
• After 72 hours, if no response has been received, forward the order to the Dean of Student Life and suspend network access of the student.

The student must immediately remove the unauthorized media from their machine, remove the program used to enable file sharing and state in writing that all illegal file sharing activity will cease.

Once the user has complied with the request or has submitted a counter response in writing, the Designated Copyright Agent will mark the incident as “resolved.” No further administrative action will be taken.  

4.   Students certain that the alleged infringing media has been obtained legally or feel that the copyright owner has misidentified the material may respond denying the allegation. In either case, the student must respond by e-mail or contact the College’s Designated Copyright Agent within 72 hours.