The University has begun to actively enforce the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, which prohibits the illegal use of copyrighted material.
Terry Doub, University network security manager, said the enforcement comes at a time when more companies are complaining about the illegal use of their materials, such as music and movie files.
“We’ve been getting more and more complaints about material being shared from LSU networking computers,” Doub said.
Gary Dukes, Residential Life information system manager, said the sharing of music and movies has been a problem in the residence halls.
“If a student sets up a server, industries and clients aren’t making as much money, and that’s where the problem comes in,” Dukes said.
While much of the online sharing comes from residence hall computers, Doub said the act applies to all University computers.
Dukes said first-time offenders will have their data port disconnected and must contact the Office of Computing Services or Residential Life to have it reconnected.
In addition, Dukes said the violation will be logged and sent to industries.
“We notify them, we log the information and the Office of Telecommunications has to report back to these institutions,” Dukes said.
Repeat offenders will be considered in violation of the LSU Student Code of Conduct and will be referred to the Dean of Students.
Students had mixed reactions to the idea of online file sharing being monitored.
Adrianne Tucker, an undecided freshman, said she downloaded online files because CDs are too expensive and some songs can be difficult to find otherwise.
“I can’t afford music, and if I want an obscure song, sometimes they don’t sell it at stores,” Tucker said.
Tucker also said she did not think she was hurting artists by downloading their material.
“Artists make money off of other things, like ads and concerts,” she said.
Christi Lewis, a kinesiology sophomore, said she thinks online sharing would only hurt everyone in the long run.
“The artists are justified in being angry,” Lewis said. “They’re the ones who create the CDs, and if they can’t make money to produce the CDs, then everyone loses out.”