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"So, I hear a lot about what I can't do. What CAN I download and what AM I legally allowed to do?"
That's probably the most popular question. There are so many stories out there about students "just like you" being sued for copyright violation that you're entitled to
be nervous, but it's important to remember that there are a lot of things you CAN do online that are perfectly legal.
- Download and distribute songs when the artist has given you permission to do
so.
- Permission is the key word here. Some artists, such as Metallica and
the Dixie Chicks, have made headlines for waging battles against having
their songs available for download on the P2P networks. They have NOT given you permission to download or
distribute their songs! A TON of other artists, however, have
given you permission to download and sometimes even distribute their songs.
- To give a bit of historical and cultural background, the artists themselves typically make very little off of each album sale. Lots of other people take cuts
-- the stores who sell the albums, the people who store them, ship them, produce them, burn them to CD, create the cover art, etc. Artists typically make most of their
money from touring.
- There are two schools of thought on the P2P networks. The first one is that by downloading a song or making it available to others, you are reducing the number
of people who have / will purchase a particular album. This theory is supported or refuted in a number of locations.
- The second school of thought is that if you want people to want to see you when you tour, offer them your music for free and let them decide for themselves. A
number of great indie bands follow this model, because the internet provides a wonderful way to distribute music to a wide audience for very little money. However, a
number of more mainstream bands have decided to follow this model as well. Artists such as Wilco have released their records online for free, and have done extremely
well.
For some acts, file sharing seems to have actually increased sales. When Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot came out in 2002, the entire album had been
available through peer-to-peer networks for nearly a year. Yet the album sold more than 50,000 copies its first week out --— the best debut of the band's career and more
than double the first-week tally of its preceding album. (Source)
- So YES, there is music out there that you can download and distribute for free. But be careful! Just because you can download it for free, doesn't mean you
can automatically make it available to others. Those are two completely different rights. Most artists who make their music available for free know this, and will tell
you what you may do with their music. Take an extra five seconds and READ the download page!
- One last thing. We know you want the sites. Click here.
- Make a backup copy of a CD for personal
use.
- The Audio Home Recording Act allows you to make one backup of a CD for personal use.
Personal use means FOR YOURSELF -- not for a friend, parent, sibling,
pet, roommate, professor, random circus clown...
- It's important to note that this law was written before DVDs existed. A strict legal interpretation of the law would say that it is illegal to make a backup
copy of a DVD, even for personal use. In the unlikely event that the RIAA and others stop focusing on P2P
networks and begin invading American homes to ensure the
authenticity of each DVD, there is an excellent chance that the "backup for personal use" provision of the Audio Home Recording Act would apply to DVDs as well. But in the
letter of the law at the current time, it is technically illegal.
- Use TiVo or a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) to download an episode of a TV show.
- Again, personal use is key here. If you download it, watch it, and put it on your
computer to be shared on a P2P network, it's illegal without permission.
- A famous copyright case is the Sony Betamax decision. Betamax was an early VCR, and it was produced by Sony. The Hollywood
industries sued Sony because the VCR made it possible for people to record TV shows. Dual-deck recorders, which had two tape slots,
could be used to record one tape onto another. The Supreme Court ruled that the primary use of the Betamax was for people to
"time-shift" -- record a TV show to be able to watch it at a more convenient time. While VCRs could be used for illegal
purposes, their primary (personal) use was ruled to be legal.
- This same logic is used for TiVo's and DVRs. They are perfectly legal for personal use, but once the recorded shows are
made
available for distribution, it's
illegal without permission.
- Use Peer-to-Peer networks in your dorm room for a variety of purposes.
- See the question above for the legality of what files you can download and share.
- You are allowed to use P2P networks in your dorm room. We recognize that P2P networks can have
perfectly legal uses. Professors may put up assignments,
readings, or other documents. BitTorrent is a great way to quickly download a Linux distribution. And as noted above, artists
can make their own songs available legally
for downloading.
- However, because of network performance issues, the bandwidth allowed for P2P sites in the dorms have been rate-limited to a
total of
5mbps. To put this in
perspective, your dorm ethernet connection has a top speed of 100mbps. The "standard" top speed of a cable modem or DSL modem (for people living off-campus) is between
1.5mbps and 3mbps, depending on a number of factors. The rate-limiting means that everyone living in the dorms will have their P2P requests funnelled
into one "pipe" that is approximately 1/20th the size of your dorm connection, but 2 - 3 times the size of the "pipe" going to a cable modem or DSL router. We recognize
that there are significant legal uses to P2P programs, but we have a responsibility to provide reliable internet connections for everyone on campus. Limiting the bandwidth
of P2P programs has allowed us to ensure this reliability.
- A word of caution! Some less ethical P2P programs can re-enable sharing even after you have disabled it.
This can mean that you may be sharing your files even if you don't know it! We do prohibit P2P traffic in
the Business School and Medical School, because of the sensitive information stored in these locations. If you are a Business School
or
Medical School student, please be extra careful about sharing files from your dorm room. You don't want to be the cause of someone's
medical or financial data being available to millions!
- Download songs FROM THESE SITES for free!
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