All use of data networks at Luther College is subject to College policy as well as federal, state and local laws. This includes all copyright provisions. Users of Luther's data networks affirm that their transmission of all copyrighted material is done so legally and with all licenses secured. Claimed acts of copyright infringement by members of the Luther community can result in loss of privileges to access Luther data networks.
Peer-to-peer file sharing is a popular, efficient, and legal way to share files for which you have legal license to distribute or receive via computer networks. There are many software clients that enable file sharing operating on networks such as BitTorrent, Gnutella, OpenNap, and Loafy. Luther does not expressly prohibit or prevent file sharing on our networks provided users have legal license to share the files they are sharing.
Receiving or transmitting files for which you do not have legal license to distribute is not permitted under Luther's network use policies and is in many cases an illegal act punishable under criminal and/or civil law. Luther will contact any user found to be violating this policy with information regarding the claimed infringement. Failure to respond to and address the claimed infringement notice and associated activity may result in loss of network privileges and referral to the campus judicial system.
There are a number of issues that Luther community members need to consider when it comes to file sharing activity:
Luther encourages users who choose to acquire digital media to use legal and licensed services such as:
Additional services can be found at EDUCAUSE which maintains a list of legal downloading services.
For additional questions on Luther's file sharing policies, please contact Paul Mattson, ([email protected]) Executive Director of Library and Information Services. For more information on your legal rights and responsibilities, please contact your legal advisor.