PEER-TO-PEER AND FILE SHARING
General Description H.R. 4137, the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA), a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, includes provisions that are designed to reduce the illegal uploading and downloading of copyrighted works through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing including: • Institutions make an annual disclosure that informs students that the illegal distribution of copyrighted materials may subject them to criminal and civil penalties and describes the steps that institutions will take to detect and punish illegal distribution of copyrighted materials. • Institutions certify to the Secretary of Education that they have developed plans to “effectively combat” the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material. • Institutions, “to the extent practicable,” offer alternatives to illegal file sharing. • Institutions identify procedures for periodically reviewing the effectiveness of the plans to combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials. This policy constitutes the required disclosure to students and is acknowledged at each point of registration. Peer-to-peer and file sharing applications allow sharing of files amongst participating users. Sharing audio, video, data,
or anything in digital format is common and may be in violation of copyright. In accordance with the HEOA Hodges University uses web filtering technologies to actively block P2P file- sharing applications. Policy This policy is meant to prohibit the use of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file-sharing applications for the following reasons: • Address any potential liability from instances when students download copyrighted material. • Minimize network disruption. • Protect the network from exposure to malicious code (worm, virus, Trojan horse). • Protect the intellectual property of the University and other’s intellectual property. Liability Although many materials have been placed on P2P networks with a creator’s consent, much of the material (images, software, movies, music, and video) has been duplicated from copyrighted materials. Downloading such files onto or using University resources places the University at significant risk for legal action by the copyright holder and other organizations. File-sharing networks also provide ready access to inappropriate or offensive material, subjecting the University and its students to additional legal risk. Disruption of Services While the University has significant Internet bandwidth to accommodate all academic- related activity, performance can degrade significantly when P2P file-sharing applications are used, especially when large files are being downloaded. This problem is compounded when other users on the P2P network use University bandwidth to download files from the student’s computer, which can significantly slow legitimate academic applications needs, such as web traffic, portal, e-mail, etc.
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Hodges University Student Handbook
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