MPAA Infiltrating Campus Nets with Software
unassimilatible writes "CNet is reporting that the MPAA is starting to infiltrate college campuses with automated anti-piracy software. Known as the Automated Copyright Notice System (ACNS), the technology promises to make copyright enforcement easier on peer-to-peer networks, saving schools and Internet service providers (ISPs) time and money. ACNS allows them to automatically restrict or cut off Internet access for alleged infringers on notice from a record label or movie studio. Though not specifically ACNS, a similar system is set to go live Monday at the University of California at Los Angeles, one of the nation's largest universities with 37,500 students. UCLA's Copyright Policy page makes no reference of this system being implemented."
In fact, UCLA has even published a letter to their students directly addressing file-sharing which states We are writing to alert the campus community - students, faculty and staff - to the personal risks involved with illegal file-sharing. It is important that you understand these risks, not only because of the possibility of disciplinary action, but also to protect yourself against criminal prosecution and the initiation of civil litigation by copyright holders. We would like you to be very aware that initiation of legal action by copyright holders is becoming more of a reality every day..
With ample notification of monitoring and a termination policy in place, why should UCLA need to explicitly state that they are turning on a new monitoring system any more than they would notify students that their P2P bandwidth was being throttled by something like Packetshaper?