The movie industry letter includes a link to a website that summarizes the HEOA’s provisions about colleges’ role in protecting copyrighted material. The site, RespectCopyrights.com, has a directory of legal online sources of movies, shows, and music.
The MPAA warning also encourages colleges to visit a website listing “role model” campuses that have implemented strategies aimed at deterring students from illegal downloading of copyrighted music and movies, including provisions and punishments for those who violate the college’s policy.
The website is run by EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit organization that advocates for technology use in higher education.
EDUCAUSE’s “role model” web page reminds college officials that “compliance strategies will … change as technology and business models evolve,” and it provides examples of successful strategies employed at a dozen institutions.
“There is thus no one-size-fits-all approach, now or in the future,” the organization’s statement said, adding that “colleges and universities have a great deal of flexibility in determining how they will comply with” the federal law.
At the University of Delaware, for example, campus officials in charge of enforcing copyright rules enroll policy violators in a course that details copyright laws after the person’s internet connection is cut off.
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The student must score an 80 percent or higher on an exam at the end of the course to have campus network access again. Students found guilty of illegal downloading have to have their computers examined by an IT staff member, which costs $75 for the first violation and $110 for any other illegal activity thereafter.
The university also has launched a website that lists legal downloading sites. Students’ options include Music United, free streaming site Pandora, SHOUTcast, and RadioTower.com.
In addition, Delaware highlights media resources that are available in the public domain and can be downloaded free of charge at InternetArchive, a site with more than 110,000 movies and 218,000 audio recordings.
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