Marshall University Computing Services plans to impose a reconnection fee on campus network users found sharing copyrighted files to offset the time spent researching complaints.
The university has been overwhelmed with copyright infringement notifications this semester. Because of the amount of time invested in researching these cases, UCS said it will impose the fee to collect funds to offset some costs involved.
When the Motion Picture Association of America or the RIAA sends a copyright infringement notification to the university, UCS traces the activity to the residence hall and the network connection in question is turned off. After receiving a subpoena from one of these groups, UCS conducts an in-depth investigation.
UCS searches through network files and records. The fee system was developed to cover the expense of this time-consuming job. For the first offense, file-sharing users will be charged a $50 fee to reconnect to the network. For every instance after that, users will be charged $100.
"We felt that it was necessary to recover some of the costs because of the time spent by our staff to investigate these situations," Chuck Elliott, director of customer services, said. "We took the average amount of time spent researching these cases and the salary of everyone involved in the research and decided that $50 for the first offense and $100 for every time after should be somewhat adequate to deal with the costs incurred of people being taken away from other issues to look into these."
Elliott said Steve Hensley, dean of student affairs, might waive these fees if Hensley feels the students were falsely accused. Hensley has said he is taking an increasingly firmer approach against students found sharing files in violation of the student code of conduct.
"Students know that it is illegal now," Hensley said. "The RIAA doesn't have to track down these users because they won a court decision that said they did not have to, so it is on the universities to do this. If we do not, it hurts the students and doesn't give them the opportunity to settle out of court."
Brandon Ambrose can be contacted at brandon.ambrose@marshall.edu.
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