Introduction
The Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA), enacted in August 2008, placed new obligations on colleges and universities in several domains, including copyright protection. On October 29, 2009, the Department of Education released its final regulations on the implementation of these requirements. The regulations became effective on July 1, 2010.
Several sections of the HEOA deal with unauthorized file sharing on campus networks, imposing three general requirements on all U.S. colleges and universities:
- An annual disclosure to students describing copyright law and campus policies related to violating copyright law.
- A plan to "effectively combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials" by users of its network, including "the use of one or more technology-based deterrents."
- A plan to "offer alternatives to illegal downloading."
This document outlines Portland State University's efforts to comply with these requirements, and the effect of these efforts on our faculty, staff, and students.
Periodic Review and Disclosure
Users of Portland State University technology resources must adhere to the Acceptable Use Policy, which outlines our policy on copyright violation. All PSU computer account holders must acknowledge that they have reviewed and accepted this policy when they change their password every 6 months.
In addition to regular disclosure to users, the OIT Security Team periodically reviews this plan to ensure the continued effectiveness of our communications plan and technology based deterrents.
Combating the Unauthorized Distribution of Copyrighted Material
The HEOA requires that campuses implement one or more of the following “technology based deterrents” to combat unauthorized distribution of copyrighted content:
- Bandwidth shaping.
- Traffic monitoring to identify the largest bandwidth users.
- A vigorous program of accepting and responding to Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notices.
- A variety of commercial products designed to reduce or block illegal file sharing.
In order to implement the required deterrents, Portland State University utilizes a next generation firewall with application visibility and control at our internet border to monitor and control campus internet traffic. This firewall blocks BitTorrent internet activity, the most heavily abused peer-to-peer file sharing protocol on our wireless network. Anyone with a legitimate academic or business need to use this protocol should use a wired port.
Portland State University also receives and responds to Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) notices, as outlined in the Illegal File Sharing (DMCA) Standard.
Legal Alternatives
A list of legal online sources for movies, music, television, and book downloads can be found at the Legal Alternatives to Illegal File Sharing page.
Point of Contact
Contact the Helpdesk for additional assistance.