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North Central College is devoted to creating, discovering, and
sharing knowledge and information. North Central College is also
committed to complying with the United States law by upholding the
rights of copyright holders.
Violation of copyright is a criminal offense
Using a computer to copy or store any copyrighted material (text,
images, music, movies, etc.) is a violation of the law and leaves
you liable on conviction, to fines. The College has taken steps
under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to protect itself in
a variety of ways. As part of its compliance with the Act, it has
established a procedure whereby complaints that a member of the
North Central community has violated copyright may result in the
disputed material being removed from any website using North Central
resources until the complaint is resolved. In the event, that the
material violates copyright, it will be removed permanently, and
other disciplinary action may be taken against the offender. See:
North Central College Procedures for Dealing with Possible Infringement
of Intellectual Property Rights, http://www.copyright.gov/title17.
To help you comply with the law, here are some frequently asked
questions about copyright.
What kinds of activities are probably
violations of copyright law?
- Copying and sharing most MP3s, images, movies, or other copyrighted
material.
- Posting or plagiarizing copyrighted material on your personal
web space.
- Unauthorized downloading anything that you do not already own
a copy (software, MP3s, movies, etc.)
Copyright law applies to a wide variety of works, and covers much
more than is listed above. If you are in doubt about a particular
work, assume that it is copyrighted.
Are MP3s illegal?
Some MP3s can be legally obtained through online subscription services
or from some sites officially permitted by the copyright holders
to offer certain MP3 downloads. Some are copyright free. Most MP3s
do not fall into either category.
- MP3 files are completely legal, but it is illegal to have MP3s
of music recordings that you do not already own, or to which you
have not obtained the rights.
- In almost all cases, sharing MP3s over the campus network is
illegal.
- United States copyright law allows you to create MP3s only
for your personal use and only of songs for which you already
own the CD or tape. Personal use means for you alone—you
cannot make copies and give or sell them to other people.
How could I get caught if I violate copyright law?
- North Central College system administrators do not routinely
police our network for illegal activity, but they must respond
to formal legal complaints they receive.
- Organizations like the Recording Industry Association of America
frequently police file-sharing programs for copyrighted material
belonging to the artists they represent.
- Some students are under the impression that their activity
on the Internet is largely anonymous or untraceable, but this
is untrue. In fact, almost all of your activity on the internet
is logged on many computer systems you use, and while these logs
usually are not inspected, they can be used to confirm or implicate
you in illegal activity.
What will happen if I get caught?
- If, after an investigation, the allegations against you appear
to be true, your access to the network will be immediately suspended,
which means that you may not be able to use your computer on the
campus network, and may not be able to send or receive email.
- You will be notified and be asked to set up a time to meet
with North Central’s DMCA agent.
- In this meeting, the DMCA agent will present allegations made
against you and the evidence collected to support them. You will
have an opportunity to make a legal response if you believe that
you did not break any copyright laws.
- In addition, after your meeting with the DMCA agent, a summary
of the case will be forwarded to the student judicial system if
applicable.
Everyone breaks the rules, how can you punish just
one person?
- Just because the government cannot administer punishment equally
does not mean that they cannot administer them at all. As with
speeding tickets, “everyone else was doing it” will
not satisfy a law enforcement officer or provide an excuse for
illegal behavior.
- Pleading ignorance of these rules or the applicable laws is
also equally useless in an enforcement situation, so educate yourself
before you decide to break the law.
- You should recognize that violating copyright is a significant
risk that you may regret.
If you still have questions about copyright, you can visit the
U. S. Copyright office at http://www.copyright.gov/title17/
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