Employee Infringement of Media Copyright Policy

Policy

As stated in Connecticut College’s Appropriate Use Policy (AUP) for Information Systems and Resources, college systems may not be used to violate copyright laws. Faculty and staff must not distribute, download or share copyrighted music, movies, or software on the Internet without permission from the copyright owner. To do so is a federal crime, as well as a violation of the AUP.

The College’sDesignated Copyright Agent will notify individual faculty and staff members, and their supervisor, when an infringement is reported. Information Services will request that the employee cease and desist sharing media files over the Internet for which copyright permission has not been granted. Network access will be suspended for faculty and staff who do not respond in writing to the college’s Designated Copyright Agent within 48 hours of the violation notification and will be reported to their senior administrator for additional action. Network access will be suspended immediately for any faculty or staff member identified of subsequent violations and he or she will be reported directly to their supervisor and senior administrator for additional action. Policy violations have potential employment consequences.

Procedures

Guidance on how to legally obtain online music and media content is provided Information Services’ website, Copyright Resources @ Connecticut College: P2P and Legal Online Media.

The following internal procedures will be followed by the Project Office Manager as a representative of the college’s Designated Copyright Agent when notification is received from the Recording Industry of America (RIAA), or other industry representatives, indicating that the college’s network has been used to illegally download, distribute or share copyrighted media material online:

  1. On receipt of a notification from the RIAA or other industry representative, the Project Office Manager will record the notification details on the log sheet using information provided in the notification.
  2. The Network Security Office will be contacted to identify the user/computer connected with the I.P. address identified in the notification. The Director of Network Systems and Designated Copyright Agent will be cc’d of the infringement details. Contact information regarding the user associated with the infringement are to remain confidential throughout the process.
  3. An electronic copy of the industry notification will be forwarded to the user and the employee’s supervisor asking that the illegal activity cease and related media files be removed from their machine.
  4. Within 48 hours, the college’s Designated Copyright Agent must receive a response in writing from the user indicating that the illegal activity has ceased or that to their knowledge they are not participating in the illegal downloading of copyrighted works.
  5. For users not responding within 48 hours to the college’s Designated Copyright Agent, their network access will be temporarily blocked and notification will be forwarded to the employee’s area senior administrator for further consideration.
  6. Upon receipt of an appropriate employee response and resolution, the incident will be marked as “resolved” in the reported infringement logs maintained by the Project Office Manager and network access will be restored. All parties involved will be notified of the resolution.
  7. Any user receiving a second, and any subsequent, notification of infringement will be immediately blocked from the college network and notification will be sent to the supervisor and area senior administrator. A copy of all RIAA, or other industry representatives, notifications will be provided to the user.

Network access will not be restored until the college’s Designated Copyright Agent receives a written response from the user and their supervisor indicating that the activity has ceased and that the user will not participate in this activity again. If the user claims that he or she is not participating in the illegal downloading of copyrighted works, Information Services technical staff will inspect the machine for possible problems.