Had initially told students it would turn over the names of people accused of illegal downloading to copyright holders, but realizes it’s not obligated to do so under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and says it will simply warn them instead.
Brooklyn Law School seems to be in need of some remedial education concerning copyright law and its obligations as spelled out in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
For students there were recently greeted to this e-mail from Phil Allred, the school’s CIO.
It reads:
BROOKLYN LAW SCHOOL — MEMORANDUM — ILLEGAL DOWNLOADING
From: Phil Allred
Date: October 28, 2009 11:49 AM EDT
To: All Users
Subject: [BLS] Illegal downloading
This semester we have received several warnings from our Internet
service provider that copyrighted movies and TV shows are being
downloaded illegally via our wireless network. The Information
Technology office is now ascertaining who is doing this. Once we have
names of the individuals involved, we intend to give them to the
copyright holders for enforcement purposes.
We remind everyone that copyright abuse is illegal and that use of the
Internet while at Brooklyn Law School must be in accordance with our
published Terms of Service document located at
http://www.brooklaw.edu/terms.
Phil Allred
CIO
Brooklyn Law School
That’s right. It intended to actively turn over the names of students accused of illegal downloading without so much as a court order as most schools require.
You could argue that lawyers should be held to higher standard, but the law is the law and a law school should be the first to object to such a practice. If not the CIO then at least the faculty.
After much criticism Allred then decided to revise the school’s stance and promised to only fulfill its legal obligations as spelled out in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. It would no longer turn over the names of accused file-sharers without a court order.
He writes:
From: Phil Allred
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 12:08 PM
To: All Users
Subject: [BLS] Update on illegal downloads e-mail notice
Yesterday, I sent out an e-mail regarding the recent spate of abuse notices we have received from our Internet service provider. Under our contract, users are prohibited from downloading copyrighted works. If we knowingly allow such activity to continue without taking action, we risk losing access to the Internet.
When we can ascertain the people who are responsible for alleged illegal downloads, we will notify them to cease such activity. We will comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Outside of the legal process, we are not obligated to turn over the names of the alleged infringers to copyright holders and will not do so.
The DMCA’s so-called “safe harbor” provision clearly says that a service provider can’t be held liable for the actions of users so long as it removes infringing material when requested by copyright holders, and has no obligation to take the matter further.
You’d think the Brooklyn Law School would’ve at least done some basic research before formulating school policy, especially when it has such important legal implications for it student body.
At least it turned out well in the end I suppose.
Stay tuned.
jared@zeropaid.com
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