Like most institutions that have received copyright-infringement notices from the entertainment industry, Stanford University has a fairly straightforward process for dealing with the complaints. Campus officials identify students accused of piracy, ask them to delete the offending material from their computers, and prepare to disconnect from the campus network anyone who does not quickly comply.
The process might sound simple enough, but in fact it can be time-consuming and surprisingly expensive. College technology officials say each complaint filed against a student under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act can end up costing their institutions anywhere from $50 to upwards of $100.
So starting this fall, Stanford students who get disconnected will help the university pay for its trouble. Stanford will charge first-time piracy suspects a $100 fee to get back on the campus network, and it will charge repeat offenders even stiffer fines.
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