Wednesday, April 16, 2003

Naval Academy Punishes 85 Students for Downloads, but Won't Describe Penalties By VINCENT KIERNAN The U.S. Naval Academy has punished 85 students who allegedly downloaded copyrighted movies and songs through the institution's Internet connection. The penalties have not been disclosed publicly, but they stopped short of expulsion or court-martial. In November, academy officials seized computers from 92 midshipmen after concluding that the machines had been used to pirate material. All but seven of the students were found guilty of misconduct. "This boiled down to holding the next generation of the nation's combat leaders accountable for their actions," Cmdr. Bill Spann, an academy spokesman, said on Tuesday. "This is a particularly important point for them to learn, especially given their age." Citing privacy rules, Commander Spann said he would not describe the punishments meted out to the students, other than to say that none were expelled or court-martialed. "The punishment fit the crime," he said. He said that, before the November raid, academy officials had repeatedly warned midshipmen that downloading copyrighted materials was "an inappropriate use of government computing resources." The Sun, a Baltimore newspaper, first reported the disposition of the cases, on Tuesday. The newspaper reported that an unidentified Defense Department official had threatened to cut off funds for the academy's high-bandwidth Internet connection unless academy officials cracked down on downloads. Commander Spann would not comment on that account. At many colleges, students who illegally download copyrighted materials are punished by having their network privileges revoked. Earlier this month, Harry R. Lewis, dean of Harvard University's undergraduate college, sent students a letter warning that they could lose their network access for a year if they are discovered to have illegally shared copyrighted material more than once. Also earlier this month, the Recording Industry Association of America sued four college students for copyright infringement over their use of file-sharing software on their institutions' networks (The Chronicle, April 4). Last year, the association and other entertainment-industry groups began writing to officials of American colleges, including the Naval Academy, to complain about piracy by students (The Chronicle, January 3). Amy Weiss, a spokeswoman for the record-industry group, commended the Naval Academy. "When colleges and universities enforce their own policies against copyright infringement occurring on their campuses, it is often a wake-up call to those unaware of the serious consequences involved in engaging in this type of illegal activity," Ms. Weiss said in a prepared statement. "The specific action a higher-education institution chooses to take to prevent this type of illegal behavior varies, and it is up to the individual institution, but we absolutely applaud those who take such theft seriously," Ms. Weiss said. Background articles from The Chronicle: Recording Industry Sues 4 Students for Allegedly Trading Songs Within College Networks (4/18/2003) Recording Industry Plans to Accelerate Complaints About Illegal File Sharing (1/3/2003) Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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