Unusual University E-mail...

Forgive me if this is in the wrong area, I'm not sure exactly where to post this. Feel free to move if necessary mods.

Yesterday, I was e-mailed by the university which I attend. This is exactly what the e-mail said, excluding names, phone numbers, and websites (which for obvious reasons I don't want to be public)

An incident has been filed with the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities concerning your alleged involvement in downloading copyrighted materials against university computer policy. The behavior described in the incident is a violation of the Student Code of Conduct, which can be found at ---.

Due to this incident, your student record has been tagged – meaning this will affect your ability to conduct any further university business. In order to remove this tag, our office is offering you two options to address this situation:

Option #1 Individual Option

Contact the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities at ----- to schedule an individual appointment with one of our staff members. Upon the completion of this meeting, you might need to schedule an additional meeting with computer support staff to help you correct the problem.



Option # 2 Group Option

Contact the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities at ------ to sign up for a group meeting. Please be advised that other students will be present and you need to bring your laptop computer with you. Computer support staff members will be in attendance to verify this issue is corrected and avoid further meetings.

Please, be advised to that if you choose option #2 that you need to complete the attached FERPA release statement and bring with you to your Group Meeting.


We look forward to hearing from you to resolve this situation and if you should have any further questions you may contact the office of Student Rights and responsibilities at -----.

I have yet to respond to the e-mail, and I don't know exactly why it was sent. I bought my laptop from the school my freshman year, and I have downloaded about 900 songs and 16 movies illegally...I know it's wrong, I don't need a lecture about it, I just want to know if anyone has recieved an e-mail like this before, or what should I respond?

By 'not being able to conduct university business' I am a little afriad that I won't be able to even attend classes unless I choose one of the options. What should I say, if anything? Also, how would my school have gotten this information from my laptop? Any help would be very much appreciated.

Also, I have an attachment in the e-mail which is the FERPA Release Statement that I must sign for the 'group therapy session' but I don't know how to add it on here.

you connect to the school's [wireless] network. the network administrators can monitor any and all traffic in and out of their network, on any computer in the network.

what you should do, is go to one of the sessions. im sure it wont affect your actual classes, but rather what you can do on the network.

[edit on 8/2/2008 by prototism]

reply to post by prototism


It's just really weird because school starts back in 18 days, I don't know why they would send this to me just now at the end of summer.

The FERPA release statement says basically that if I sign it, the university is allowed to release this information to third parties...I don't see why anyone would do that?

the third parties would most likely be the MPAA and its music world counterpart. no other third party (except for perhaps the FBI) would be relevant.

and theyre probably sending it to you now, so you can do whatever you have to do before the new school year starts.

[edit on 8/2/2008 by prototism]

reply to post by Alexander_Supertramp



Sorry to be a bore, but you used the University net to do illegal stuff. Hope that teaches you a very important lesson on just how tight universities watch their traffic.

Hope you get to stay on your course though, even if you don't seem too bothered about illegal downloading and getting caught out by university staff.

im also curious as to why you surprised that this is happening?

you, by your own admittance, know its wrong. and you, as the student, should have read the computer use agreement (which usually states explicity that any and all network traffic is monitored). even if there is no computer use agreement, its sorta common sense to know your activity on a private network is most likely monitored.

did you honestly think NOTHING would happen?

[edit on 8/2/2008 by prototism]

Originally posted by prototism

did you honestly think NOTHING would happen?

[edit on 8/2/2008 by prototism]

Sure as heck looks that way to me. Expect to get a grilling thats for sure.

Dan Tanna: I, in my naiveness, didn't think I'd get in trouble for something like that. Stupid of me? Absolutely. I just had no idea people actually cared about that kind of stuff anymore, but despite how I come off, I have learned my lesson and that's the last time I do anything like that whatsoever.

Prototism: I honestly did think nothing would happen, obviously I am suffering a punishment for my actions, which I willingly accept (like I have a choice). And it is wrong as in illegal, but I don't like contributing to big corporations that make more than enough money as it is.

That said, if a grilling is what I'm going to get, so be it. But I highly doubt anybody has not done something similar, if not to that extent. Nobody obeys every law all of their lives, especially laws they aren't too fond of in the first place. Commence grilling.

i too agree "the corporations" are screwing the consumers over. but the law is the law.

and yes, i too used to download illegally. i stopped once those lawsuit horror stories started appearing.

reply to post by prototism


I remember those from a while back...I only got an ipod this past year, so I hadn't done it before. I just had been gullible enough to think that only people who download thousands and thousands of songs get caught. Like if you take out the big fish who put them on there, the little fish won't go out of their way to download, cut the problem at the source. I was wrong.

Originally posted by prototism
i too agree "the corporations" are screwing the consumers over. but the law is the law.

and yes, i too used to download illegally. i stopped once those lawsuit horror stories started appearing.

No, no. I disagree. The law is not the problem. It's those who misuse the intent of that law. For no law is ever instituted to invade privacy.

Laws are meant to bring equality between the rich and the poor, between the government and those being governed.

What you have is as old an idea as the King's Proclamation, "My Kingdom must survive even if kills the people."

In America, that translates to "This corporation must show a profit even if the people can't afford it."

No, it's not the law that is the problem, it is those who misuse and abuse it and bastardize the intent. In this case, the corporation who stole someone elses' idea is now calling you a criminal for stealing theirs.





[edit on 8/2/2008 by garyo1954]

Originally posted by garyo1954
In this case, the corporation who stole someone elses' idea is now calling you a criminal for stealing theirs.

what exaclty was stolen by the corpotation? "the idea"? what is "the idea"?

in the music world, you volutarily sign on to a record label, and that artist's ideas become property of the record label. no stealing is going on. is this what you mean by "the idea"?

the only one doing any stealing here, using the strict definition of "steal", is the OP.

you can argue semantics, and what a law really is, but the fact of the matter is, the OP willingly and knowingly downloaded copyrighted material, and according to the MPAA and RIAA, that is illegal.

[edit on 8/2/2008 by prototism]

[edit on 8/2/2008 by prototism]

I agree with prototism, I was the only one that acted against the law. But, considering I need to sign a form to allow them to release the information to third parties, does this mean that they are going easy on me and instead of taking it up with record labels or whatnot they are just making me to go an AA class for piraters?

I also just realized a twisted irony: our school's mascot is a pirate

Originally posted by Alexander_Supertramp
I agree with prototism, I was the only one that acted against the law. But, considering I need to sign a form to allow them to release the information to third parties, does this mean that they are going easy on me and instead of taking it up with record labels or whatnot they are just making me to go an AA class for piraters?

I also just realized a twisted irony: our school's mascot is a pirate

youre probably protected by the umbrella of the school. but the "third party" issue, might allow them to release the network logs of your activity to the RIAA, MPAA, or FBI, if it is requested.

perhaps the class you have to attend is like the speeding ticket class, in traffic violations? you go to a class, and your violation no longer is a demerit on your driving record.

i cant guarantee any of this, of course.

I hope that's all it is. I was just worried that by 'conduct university business' it meant I can't do anything at all, including take classes, unless I attend this class. And then if I sign the form that they would release the information and I would suffer further penalties. Nothing I can do about it now I suppose.

perhaps you could contact the ACLU for advice?

reply to post by Nerdling


Hmm, I didn't think of that. Would they be willing to look over something like this? I would imagine that they would think something of this little importance wouldn't be worth their time, but I'll give it a try, thanks for the advice!

I just wanted to post this on here because I wasn't sure if I should respond to the e-mail, call the number listed, or what.

I think a lot of things look worse on email than they are in real life.

I'd choose option one, don't admit to anything or answer more than they are directly asking you. You'll get the standard lecture of 'well, it's wrong, please don't do it again".

I would contact the ACLU for advice, I think it'd be quite interesting.

Don't sign the FERPA agreement. It looks like a blank cheque for them to release your details onto a third party.

Perhaps a local TV station might be interested in this story. They loooove stories about record industries bullying kids.

"I've downloaded a couple of songs -hey, everybody does it- and now I can't even attend classes unless I let the university disclose all my info to some record company."

I was leaning more towards option one myself, because I don't want to sign anything unless absolutely necessary. I will take your advice and contact the ACLU tonight, and then post their reply e-mail on this thread once I get it. I don't want to tell a local news station or anything like that, because I don't want my parents to know

Also, do you (or anybody for that matter) know if when they say my record was "tagged" that it will show up if I was given a background check for future jobs?

I know nobody cares, but I researched my school and their policies with music pirating and came across the following quote from our school newspaper:

When the individual students are found, if it is their first offense, the department of student conflict resolution will meet with the student and give them a warning. On a student's second offense, their Internet access will be put on hold for six months. If there is a third offense, privileges are taken away for one year. The fourth offense results in suspension of the student.

Phew, I can sleep better tonight knowing I won't be fined a hefty fee or anything for illegally downloading. Word to the wise: whoever comes across this thread, learn from my mistakes!