E-mail this pageDigital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
What You Don't Know Can Harm You
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) allows the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to target individuals who are illegally downloading copyrighted material, such as music, movies, and games.
The RIAA also can force Internet Service Providers to reveal the identities of these illegal file traders. Individual violators and their Internet Service Providers can be held liable and hit with heavy fines.
SUNY Plattsburgh and its students have become targets of the RIAA. Civil suits have been filed seeking compensation for damages. Fines of up to $150,000 per offence are possible.
Act Responsibly. Be Safe.
Illegal file-sharing places both the college and its students at risk. Students can't afford fines and colleges can't afford to have their networks compromised or threatened by legal actions.
The bottom line is that Plattsburgh students are expected to abide by the law and not engage in illegal file trading.
Make no mistake: major copyright holders, including software companies, video distributors, game producers, and the RIAA, have the resources, the technology, and the legal authority to find and prosecute anyone who shares copyrighted materials over campus network connections.
It's a situation in which you don't want to find yourself.
Learn More About the DMCA
- Download full text of the DMCA (.pdf file size 71kb) Note: this file requires the latest version of Adobe Acrobat, which is available as a free download
- Educause's Analysis of the impact of the DMCA on Colleges
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation's "Let the Music Play" Site
Contact Information
SUNY Plattsburgh's designated agent is:
Holly Heller-Ross
Interim Associate Dean of Library & Information Services
SUNY Plattsburgh
101 Broad Street
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
Telephone: (518) 564-5192
Fax: (518) 564-5100
E-mail: hellerhb@plattsburgh.edu