Copyright pledge
In an age in which a vast amount of digital media can be accessed with just a few clicks on the Internet, it is easy to see how individuals can purposefully seek out copyrighted digital content online without thinking or knowing about the legal ramifications.
With that in mind, on Sept. 26, Eric Denna, university vice president and chief information officer, sent an email to the student body asking students to agree virtually to a pledge stating that they will refrain from using the university network for copyright infringing and file-sharing activity and follow the University of Maryland Policy on the Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources. For students to sign the pledge, they must copy and paste the pledge statement, sign their names as digital signatures and send them to pledge@umd.edu.
Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act — established in 1998 at the burgeoning of the digital age — it is illegal to engage in file-sharing services, seek copyrighted content and pirate online content. Those who violate any of those tenets can be subject to civil and criminal liabilities, and those who do so on the university network might be subject to university sanctions.
Violating online copyrights and pirating content is not specific to this university. Instead, it is a problem that seems to affect all Internet users.
A study commissioned by NBCUniversal called “Sizing the Piracy Universe” revealed that in January 2013, 327 million unique users in the regions of North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific sought to infringe online content. In the same month and same regions, the study also revealed that 13.9 billion page views were on sites dedicated to pirated content. Online copyright infringement and piracy affect not only the Internet users of this university but also billions of people throughout the world.
The university’s decision to establish the Copyright Pledge exemplifies the growing need to constantly evolve and adapt to the ever-changing digital world. The idea that seems to be at the basis of the Copyright Pledge shows the university’s ability to acclimate to these constant changes.
However, several questions need to be answered by Denna and university officials for the Copyright Pledge to work. For example, the subject of Denna’s email said to “return required pledge” to pledge@umd.edu. Yet nowhere in the body of the email does it say if the pledge is required for students to access the university network. The Division of Information Technology needs to clarify what the ramifications will be for students if they do not submit to the Copyright Pledge. They also need to make it known whether there will be harsher penalties for students caught violating copyright material if they signed the Copyright Pledge.
It’s an educatied decision for this university to acknowledge that network users — not just students — can be susceptible to this temptation. The Copyright Pledge Initiative is a step in the right direction for the battle against copyright infringement and online piracy, but the kinks need to be worked out for this action to be completely effective.
