Dear Students:

Yesterday (April 28), the Recording Industry Association of America filed a lawsuit against two unnamed individuals who use the University of Minnesota computer network. The lawsuit alleges that the unnamed defendants illegally downloaded or shared copyrighted materials. The University is not named in the complaint.

The RIAA has begun a series of lawsuits against individuals it believes have violated the copyrights of its members by illegally downloading and uploading music via file-sharing programs over the Internet. The RIAA has targeted specific computer addresses used to access and transmit such files, and then has issued subpoenas to the service providers (including universities) in order to find out the names of those responsible for the file sharing. With the lawsuit it filed yesterday, the RIAA asked that such a subpoena be issued to the University.

Under federal law, the identities of students using the University’s computer networks are not public information. Should the RIAA's request for a subpoena be granted and the individuals involved are students, the University would be obligated to give the students notice before their identities were made known. This notification would allow the students an opportunity to object to the subpoena.

The University of Minnesota expects that students will use University information technology networks and resources lawfully. It is critical that all students using the University's network abide by our Acceptable Use Policy (http://www.fpd.finop.umn.edu/groups/ppd/documents/policy/Acceptable_Use.cfm) and standards for use (http://www.fpd.finop.umn.edu/groups/ppd/documents/appendix/UseGuidelines.cfm).

Students living in residence halls must also abide by the user agreement prohibiting copyright violations through file sharing.

Any student involved in illegal file sharing could be subject to a lawsuit. To avoid legal action over inappropriate file sharing, it is important to understand the proper use of University computing resources. While some file sharing is completely lawful, some file-sharing is not. In addition, the programs typically used to download files from the Internet (e.g., KaZaA, Morpheus and BearShare) often turn the individual's computer into a file-sharing (uploading) server. Even unknowingly uploading some copyrighted works may subject you to additional legal risk. To prevent this, users must specifically disable the file-sharing features of these programs.

Additional information:

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/106.html

For questions about appropriate use of U of M computer resources, contact:
Twin Cities campus: (612) 301-4357 (1-HELP)
Duluth campus: Helpdesk (218) 726-8847
Morris campus: Helpline (320) 589-6391
Crookston: Helpdesk (218) 281-8000