Piracy and Copyright Infringement

The recording industry’s complaints against alleged music downloaders are just the tip of the iceberg in legal threats against online activity. In the five years of the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse, we have seen thousands of legal threats, with claims including trademark infringement, defamation, and copyright infringement. This seminar will discuss some of the range of complaints, both unwarranted and justified, and describe ChillingEffects.org’s resources for those trying to evaluate legal threats. In some cases, the web’s sunlight can help to melt meritless threats.

In this free January 23 EDUCAUSE LIVE! seminar, Legal Threats, Chilling Effects, and Warming the Air, presenter Wendy Seltzer, Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and Visiting Professor, Northeastern University School of Law, will discuss these threats and how to evaluate them.

Illinois State University has embarked on a comparative study of what works and what doesn't regarding peer-to-peer (P2P), media, and copyright on campus. After receiving almost 500 Digital Millennium Copyright Act complaints in the academic year 2004–2005, the campus decided to explore the issue in-depth and put into place a multifaceted plan to address it, working on the basis that the issue is not one of technology but rather of education, ethics, and providing legal access. The project has been strengthened by direct interaction with associations such as the Recording Industry Association of America and Motion Picture Association of America, as well as with vendors.

In this free March 7 EDUCAUSE Live! Web seminar, Warren Arbogast, Boulder Management Group, LLC, and David Greenfield, Illinois State University, will address the project’s history, explore the six tenants that make up the project, and provide some early data results. Visit the archives if you are unable to attend, or peruse EDUCAUSE resources on P2P or file sharing.