Even after last month's ruling in U.S. District court about limited access to Napster, the online music file-sharing service, college and university officials may be able to breathe a sigh of relief. Thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, institutions of higher education appear exempt from financial liability for copyright infringement.
The law, which was passed in 1998, protects universities, libraries, archives and any other institutions of higher education from copyright infringement when students and faculty use copyrighted materials for educational purposes.
Institutions can be protected by the DMCA on the condition they register with the U.S. Copyright Office.
The DMCA also requires Internet service providers to educate its online users about copyright laws and regulations. Service providers also must make sure users follow DMCA guidelines.
If service providers properly educate users of DMCA's regulations, they can be exempted from liability for their users' copyright infringement.
However, service providers are only exempt if they do not know their users are abiding by copyright laws. Institutions also must limit access to copyrighted material when appropriate and bar repeat copyright infringers from using their accounts.
These stipulations place a heavy burden on institutions like the University in order for them to remain free of liability under DMCA.
The University is "determined to do what is necessary to comply with the law," said Chip German, Information Technology and Communication director of policy and strategic planning.
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German said the University is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office and makes routine efforts to educate students about copyright laws. The University Web site features links to copyright information, he said. The University publishes a Responsible Computing Handbook and students must take a computing quiz, which includes information about copyright regulations, before entering the University, he added.
Usually when there have been reports of copyright violations, ITC notifies student affairs officials, who deal with the student involved, he said.
How the courts will interpret the law is under debate. "I have no reason to think it wouldn't stand up in courts," first-year Law student Jeff Lynn said.
However, he said he thought the law raises some questions. It would be "tough for universities to claim any plausible deniability that students are downloading songs," Lynn said.
The DMCA "raises good and tryable issues about how far the University or institutions of higher education must go both in education and monitoring," he added.
Students are uncertain of the law's effectiveness. "It's a very nasty law," fourth-year Engineering student Jim Coleman said.
"It takes away too many rights from consumers," Coleman said.
The "majority of users are using it just to get free stuff."
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