Unless OU students are willing to fork over $750 for the latest Beyoncé single, they might want to think twice before illegally downloading songs from the Internet on OU Wi-Fi.
The Recording Industry Association of America has been suing individuals for a minimum of $750 for each illegally downloaded song, according to the OU IT website.
OU IT is working with the RIAA by implementing the Affirmation of Compliance, a digital contract for OU users. When students register with the OU network, students agree to avoid copyright infringement while on the OU network, and in turn IT will investigate any questionable downloading through the network.
Questionable downloads can include downloading music or videos from free, unlicensed sources; sharing music and/or video files from your computer without proper licensing; making a copy of purchased software to share with a friend; and copying sentences or paragraphs from other sources to use as your own, according to OU IT.
IT spokeswoman Becky Grant said the IT department does not monitor the network for copyright compliance. It instead receives and responds to complaints from copyright holders such as the RIAA and the Motion Picture Association of America.
When a complaint is received, OU IT identifies the registered owner of the computer IP address listed on the complaint, Grant said.
Some students feel the monitoring is strange, but necessary.
“[Monitoring] is reasonable, I guess. I mean, it’s always a little creepy to be monitored, but when it comes to illegal downloading I wouldn’t be surprised if the university took it to that level,” University College freshman Megan Pizzini said.
Marketing senior Hayden Edgmon also agreed the monitoring can be good if IT does not abuse the policy.
“The idea has great merit if the IT department only monitors for copyright infringement,” Edgmon said.
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Silo55 8 months, 2 weeks ago
Nothing like the RIAA milking any facet for money. Charging somebody $750 for an illegally downloaded song is a prime example of the punishment not fitting the crime.
jkuehn 8 months, 1 week ago
While OU IT should work to operate within the law, they should first and foremost stand up for the students and users. In this case, they should demand proof of an alleged infraction before blinding disclosing the identities of it's users. The article suggests that they simply turn over private data to the RIAA every time they come knocking with an IP address which is a disservice to the users.