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The use of “Peer to Peer” applications like Kazaa, Morpheus and Gnutella has now become widespread on the University network. This activity puts users personally at risk if they use these applications to acquire or make available to others copyrighted materials. Copying, distributing, sharing, downloading, or uploading any information or material on the Internet may infringe the copyright for that information or material. Violating copyright is against the law and also against the University Network Use Policy (Section I-F).
Most "Peer to Peer" applications by default make files on the user’s computer available for others to download. If you are using these applications on campus, ITC recommends that you remove these applications. If you choose not to remove these applications, you should take steps to ensure that your computer is configured not to allow these applications to act as providers of unlicensed materials. You will be liable even if you were not aware that you were making files available for others to download.
Representatives of the record and film industries routinely check the types of files that are made available using these “Peer to Peer” applications. Under the terms of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the University must take action after it receives a notice of copyright infringement. A notice of infringement could be a notice from a record or film industry representative that copyrighted material is being downloaded and distributed without the permission of the copyright owner. The law requires the University to take action to stop the stated infringement. The actions taken by the University could include discontinuing network access and reporting the activity to the appropriate dean or manager for disciplinary action. In addition, the copyright owner may also take further legal action against the individual.
The following URLs provide information on how to disable file sharing for various “Peer to Peer” applications.
Kazaa http://security.uchicago.edu/peer-to-peer/kazaa/index.shtml
Morpheus http://security.uchicago.edu/peer-to-peer/morpheus/index.shtml
Others http://security.uchicago.edu/peer-to-peer/no_fileshare.shtml
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