Students find consequences in file sharing

Editor’s note: A source’s last name was omitted to protect his identity.

When IU freshman Ben downloaded “The Wolf of Wall Street” to his computer, he didn’t realize there would be consequences.

He saw the film in theaters during Christmas break and, being a Matthew McConaughey fan, he deemed even the actor’s minimal role reason enough to download the movie to watch with some friends.

But Ben forgot to close his file sharing application.

Ben hadn’t only downloaded the file; the application had begun seeding the file to users all around the world.

He received a notice from IU the next day. When Ben received his notice, he panicked.

“My knowledge of copyright law was limited, so I spent the next two hours — after rereading the email six or seven times — researching illegal file sharing,” Ben said.

What he found frightened him — stories of people being sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said.

He then went back to the IU notice and followed its instructions.

Tim Goth, the incident response manager at UITS public safety and institutional assurance, is part of the team responsible for sending these notices.

In the 2013 calendar year, they assigned 439 offenses on the Bloomington campus alone and 710 in the entire IU system.

“I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that a lot of people have the perception that online they are completely anonymous,” Goth said.

Copyright holders are looking for violations of copyright law, Goth said. When they discover one, they send a takedown notice, a procedure introduced by the digital millennium copyright act.

Goth said when IU receives this notice, it works to link the activity to a specific user.

Once the user is identified, IU sends an email to the offender including the original takedown notice and a block of text created by Goth’s office.

First time offenders, like Ben, are charged a $50 fee, required to take an online tutorial and quiz and, as of Aug. 16, 2012, participate in a seminar on copyright law and ethics.

Goth said the idea behind the introduction of the seminar was increasing awareness and education.

“We really felt like kids weren’t getting this at school,” Goth said. “They weren’t getting this at home, and it’s easy to hear from a friend, ‘Hey I just downloaded this movie, you should do the same.’”

Ben described the seminar as laid back and helpful.

Students are brought into a room with a few other offenders— in Ben’s case, six -— and learn about copyright law, particularly how it functions within universities.

“I felt that IU handles file-sharing issues excellently without blowing things out of proportion,” he said. “I expected to perhaps be reprimanded or given an assignment of sorts.”

Until offenders complete the tasks given to them by the University, their network access is blocked. Students can still log on to lab computers to complete work but will not be able to gain access on their private devices.

“I would encourage everyone to read IU’s policy on piracy because it is appropriate for the crime in question,” Ben said.

Goth pointed out many universities have much stricter policies regarding file sharing than IU.
Rather than punishment, Goth said, the main focus in dealing with these issues is education to prevent repeat offenses.

“They don’t realize that that’s technically stealing,” Goth said.

Goth said he felt the policies, and the amendments made to them in 2012, have been effective.

He said the seminar and the requirement that second-time offenders have a phone conversation with the office of student ethics add a human element that students pay more attention to.

“The results that we see in regards to file sharing and notices is that they are working,” Goth said.

Consequences become more serious as the number of offenses grows.

Second-time offenders must pay a $75 fee, complete the tutorial and quiz once again , attend the seminar and complete a phone call with the office of student ethics.

Third-time offenders are permanently blocked from the network for as long as they are associated with IU, required to take the tutorial and quiz for a third time and pay a fee of $100.

Goth said he has seen a drop in second and third offenses since the implementation of the phone call and seminar. He attributes the drop to the added human element.

“I’m just some guy behind a computer sending an email,” he said.

The file sharing incident is behind him, Ben said. He said he never recognized getting caught or in trouble as a real possibility, and said many people probably don’t as well.

“I think many people, students and others alike, have gotten away with piracy enough to not be concerned with the potential consequences,” he said. “In addition to this, many people aren’t educated on copyright law. It’s the convenience that makes piracy and sharing so easy.”

Follow reporter Anna Hyzy on Twitter @annakhyzy.