Internet piracy activity past peak, CIO says
By Katie Dooling
With the influx of notifications for illegal file-sharing increasing, the Office of Student Life and Internet Technology are booked with appointments concerning student discipline.
Chief Information Officer for Santa Clara University Ron Danielson, who is notified by recording companies, movie or video producers, and software companies each time a student is found illegally sharing files, said there have been 24 notifications this academic year.
"The entertainment industry is being much more aggressive about pursuing people who are making copyrighted materials available to others over the Internet," Danielson said.
Overall file-sharing activity by students has decreased, which Danielson attributes to students' anxiety over potential punishment.
"If I look at our network traffic graphs, compared to a year ago, there is less traffic being used for entertainment," Danielson said.
The crackdown on file sharing in universities such as Santa Clara has come so strongly, Danielson said, because the entertainment industry believes stopping students from developing habits of illegal downloading in college will remove much of the problem.
"A year ago at this time (the entertainment industry) hadn't yet developed the ability or the legal right to issue subpoenas to find out who people are," Danielson said. "They've filed suit against more than a thousand people for making copyrighted materials available for downloading."
Upon being notified by an entertainment company, Danielson said he is required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to cut off the student's Internet access until they speak with the Office of Student Life.
Sophomore Jen Perkins was notified first quarter about file sharing when she noticed that her Internet access was down, which Danielson explains is the most effective way of reaching students.
Perkins said that in her meeting with Assistant Dean for Student Life Matthew Duncan, he said the Recording Industry Association of America had written a letter encouraging him not to allow Perkins Internet access because of her use of the popular file sharing program, Kazaa.
Although the student is temporarily cut off from Internet access, Duncan said the Office of Student Life focuses on educating students about file sharing. There have been no repeat offenders, but Duncan said if that happened, he or she could be placed on disciplinary probation.
Duncan said that along with the increase in notifications, an increase in disciplinary meetings has followed.
"This has become a new issue and challenge for the university," Duncan said. "It's consuming the time of IT and the Office of Student Life, but it's not something we can ignore."