KU will not forward letters from RIAA

Monday, August 13, 2007

The University is refusing to forward pre-litigation letters from the recording industry to its students on the grounds that doing so could be an invasion of student privacy.

In late July, the Recording Industry Association of America sent 408 pre-litigation settlement letters to 23 universities. The University of Kansas notified individual students by mail if it received a complaint connected to a student’s IP address. The University will not, however, forward students the RIAA pre-litigation letters, which will give students the opportunity to settle out of court.

Jenny Mehmedovic, coordinator for information and technology policy and planning, said the Digital Millennium Copyright Act does not obligate the University to forward the letters to students. It also will not release any identifying information without a court order or subpoena.

Mehmedovic said the University operated by an internal process of response when it received a complaint. It sends the appropriate user a letter from the University notifying them of the problem.

In past years, the University operated a three-strikes policy, in which students were allotted three warnings about their illegal activity before getting their Internet privileges revoked. This fall, the University is enacting a zero tolerance policy, in which students lose Internet access on the first notice of copyright infringement.

According to the safe harbor provision of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, Internet service providers such as the University are not liable for customers’ online activity if the provider immediately removes or disables a user’s access to identified material in a copyright infringement complaint.

Todd Cohen, director of University Relations, said the first responsibility of the University was to protect the privacy of its network users and notify users of the problem and the rules.

“My understanding is that the University’s best practices viewpoint is to protect its students and show compliance to the rules but not to act as a legal agent,” Cohen said.

— Edited by Trevan McGee

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