View a recent day: August 20 | August 19 | August 18 | previous days | by month and year
Friday, July 20, 2007
University of Kansas threatens to permantly lock downloading students out of its network
Students at the University of Kansas who are accused of "downloading copyrighted material" will have their network access permanently terminated. Presumably this means that even downloading "fair use" works (mashups, etc), looking at web-pages, or even getting your profs' lectures is disallowed.
The law doesn't require universities to spy on their students' network use. It doesn't require them to bear the enforcement costs of the RIAA's business model. Students' tuition is being spent to subsidize giant corporations bent on subverting the rule of law, free speech and free inquiry, and now, students caught in the entertainment industry's fatwa will be locked out of the network.
Honestly -- doesn't the University of Kansas have a law-school? What the hell is wrong with Kansas?
A brief notice on the University of Kansas ResNet site explains the university's new position very succinctly. "If you are caught downloading copyrighted material, you will lose your ResNet privileges forever," reads the notice. "No second notices, no excuses, no refunds. One violation and your ResNet internet access is gone for as long as you reside on campus." Presumably, the University is referring to illegally downloaded copyrighted material, as there is plenty of copyrighted material that can be downloaded legally.Link
posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:05:15 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments
View a recent day: August 20, 2007 | August 19, 2007 | August 18, 2007 | August 17, 2007 | August 16, 2007 | August 15, 2007 | August 14, 2007 | previous days | all BB archives by month and year












