RIAA Settlement Campaign Leads to Campus Crackdown->
Submitted
by
Cbs228
Cbs228 writes "Less than twenty days after the RIAA sent its latest round of pre-litigation notices to the University of Missouri–Rolla, administration officials have made drastic changes to the campus's network use policy. Prior to these changes, internet access was largely unfettered, limited only by total bandwidth usage caps. Now, access to all P2P applications, for any purpose, has been blocked by default. According to UMR's news site, the new restrictions are a direct result of the RIAA settlement letters.
Along with these new restrictions, the campus has begun distributing a menacing new DMCA flyer (14 MB PDF) that claims that "unauthorized reproduction and distribution of copyrighted music is just as illegal as shoplifting." The flyer links to MusicUnited.org, a copyright propaganda website that—according to a quick whois search—is owned by the RIAA. The document's metadata indicates that the flyer was created just a few days ago, on August 3rd.
Students can temporarily restore P2P access for 6 hours at a time, but there is a catch: They must log in with their username and password, take a short quiz on P2P usage, and admit for the record that they are potentially breaking the law. The application logs each user's P2P activation history, and these records are retained for an undisclosed period of time. The logs provide convenient evidence for copyright prosecutors, placing the alleged violator at the computer in question and providing what amounts to a signed confession of guilt.
The new settlement letters represent a change of tactics for the RIAA. Instead of simply threatening to sue penniless students, the RIAA is now attempting to strong-arm organizations into changing their policies, encouraging them to restrict and monitor internet access. Even if the RIAA did not personally draft UMR's network access policy, the end result is the same: Our public academic institutions are now spies for the media industry."
Link to Original Source
Along with these new restrictions, the campus has begun distributing a menacing new DMCA flyer (14 MB PDF) that claims that "unauthorized reproduction and distribution of copyrighted music is just as illegal as shoplifting." The flyer links to MusicUnited.org, a copyright propaganda website that—according to a quick whois search—is owned by the RIAA. The document's metadata indicates that the flyer was created just a few days ago, on August 3rd.
Students can temporarily restore P2P access for 6 hours at a time, but there is a catch: They must log in with their username and password, take a short quiz on P2P usage, and admit for the record that they are potentially breaking the law. The application logs each user's P2P activation history, and these records are retained for an undisclosed period of time. The logs provide convenient evidence for copyright prosecutors, placing the alleged violator at the computer in question and providing what amounts to a signed confession of guilt.
The new settlement letters represent a change of tactics for the RIAA. Instead of simply threatening to sue penniless students, the RIAA is now attempting to strong-arm organizations into changing their policies, encouraging them to restrict and monitor internet access. Even if the RIAA did not personally draft UMR's network access policy, the end result is the same: Our public academic institutions are now spies for the media industry."
Link to Original Source