220 students lose dorm access for file sharing - noteworthy news - copyright infringement issues at Penn State University - Brief Article

Black Issues in Higher Education, May 22, 2003

STATE COLLEGE, PA.

Penn State students can't say they weren't warned. Three weeks after an administrator sent an email warning against sharing copyrighted material over the Internet, 220 students were sanctioned for doing just that, the university said last month.

"Basically, we received a complaint," says Penn State spokesman Tysen Kendig. "Upon investigation, we found that the students had publicly listed copyright-infringing materials on their systems to other members of this network."

Kendig said the students were using a peer-to-peer file sharing network that allows members to download music, movies and other material directly from each other's computers.

The students, all of whom live in campus residence halls, have lost access to the high-speed connections in their dorm rooms, Kendig said, but they can still access their campus accounts from other computers.

On March 31, executive vice president and provost Rodney Erickson sent an e-mail to 110,000 students, administrators, faculty and staff reminding them that the university prohibits sharing copyrighted material and warning that such sharing is against the law. "Messing up your future is a steep price to pay for music or a video," he wrote.