Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Forget the RIAA, the VMI Honor Court is taking on file-swapping

According to this report in the Roanoke Times, the student-run Honor Court at the Virginia Military Institute has begun "considering making copyright infringement an honor-code violation tantamount to stealing," and therefore an honor offense which could lead to expulsion from the school.

The article notes -

"In Williamsburg, the College of William and Mary uses technology to restrict students from transferring music files.

William and Mary students are required to complete a training course that includes a section on copyright law before they can access the Net. Those who don't get the message are encouraged to stop sharing files. Those who continue swapping might go on probation, while expulsion would be likely only under the most extreme of cases, Walker said.

The University of Virginia asks student offenders to stop illegal file-sharing. Repeat offenders would lose their network connection and be forced to pay $100 to regain access.

In spite of the publicity over file-sharing, it isn't clear that all students grasp the law. At VMI, officials continue to face a generational gap on the issue. The older generation considers file-sharing a clear-cut case of theft, but it's tougher convincing students that swapping music files is about more than sharing."

No comments: