IU avoids student fees for file sharing

This week, Yahoo! closed a deal with Stanford University to provide free legal music access to students. More universities than ever are signing contracts with music download companies, according to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education. \nBut, these agreements have not been met with overwhelming support of students.\nAnd that lack of student support is exactly why Deputy Information Technology Policy Officer Merri Beth Lavagnino said IU does not offer this service to students. \n"We feel as though the time and money has to be worth the effort," she said. "There has to be student body interest and support for something like this." \nAlthough a contract with a major music and movie file provider is not a feature at IU, that does not mean it is not a consideration.\nFor the past two fall semesters, the Information Technology Policy Office has coordinated a discussion about this topic with representatives of the Residence Halls Association, the IU Student Association and University officials, Lavagnino said. The administrative units represented at these meetings have stated they do not wish to pursue a University-coordinated music and movie licensing service without the support of the student population.\n"Both years -- last year and this year -- the elected representatives of the IUSA and RHA were not supportive of the University entering into such a licensing agreement on the students' behalf," she said. "But, we continue to monitor the online music and movie subscription industry in case student body interest grows." \nIUSA president Alex Shortle said he believes support is low because of the cost of such a service.\n"I have never heard strong support for a contracted downloading service because of the fee," he said. "We are a user-fee campus and as far as we are concerned, this is why we voted against the athletics fee. We would want a contract with a company that would fall under a user-fee, but companies such as Ruckus would include individual fees for each piece downloaded." \nIn the meantime, the ITPO has chosen to focus on education about copyright, file sharing and the legal services students can choose to use on their own. In fact, IU sponsors a "Keep it Legal" campaign, informing computer network users of the consequences of downloading illegally. \nAside from campaign work, all students agree never to illegally download or share computer files when their IU username is issued. Students also receive notices when moving into off-campus or on-campus housing. \nViolation of this agreement is taken seriously by University officials.\nEach student implicated in a copyright violation must study an online file-sharing copyright tutorial and pass a quiz, Lavagnino said. The tutorial discusses copyright issues, the student's obligations under the law and the University's position and procedures.\nIn addition to the quiz, students also must attest that they have wiped all illegally obtained copyrighted material out of their computer's system. \nSecond and third offenses mean having to retake the quiz. These students are also prohibited from connecting to the IU network for a duration of between two weeks to indefinitely, Lavagnino said. Third-time offenders are also charged through the University's judicial process.\nAs an educational process, ITPO held its first "downloading fest" in January 2005 for a crowd of 1,600 guests (mainly students), named "Digital Karma" -- a program showcasing six major online music and movie services.\n"The purpose of the event was to increase the interest and awareness of graduate and undergraduate students in legitimate digital downloading and streaming technologies and services, which could then lead to a decrease in illegal and unethical file sharing behaviors, Lavagnino said."\nFor a list of alternative downloading services look on the Web at http://filesharing.iu.edu/alternate.php.