Higher Education Opportunity Act
The Higher Education Opportunity Act (Public Law 110-315) (HEOA) was enacted on August 14, 2008, and reauthorizes the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (the HEA). The HEOA makes a number of changes to programs authorized under the HEA, authorizes new programs, and makes changes to other laws.
Compliance with the HEOA and, in particular, provisions related to combating copyright infringement on campus networks, is required by July 1, 2010. Copyright infringement involves the reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work without permission or legal authority and this practice can result in civil and/or criminal penalties.
All members of the BW community are provided bandwidth to access commercial entities such as iTunes, Amazon, and various competitors of legal alternatives for downloading materials.
In response to the HEOA, Baldwin Wallace University has established internal practices which address the copyright infringement issue:
Information/Education
- The Strategic Plan for Information Technology includes an initiative which establishes a network security training program for students, faculty, and staff.
- The Information Technology Web site features links to the College’s “Copyright Infringement Policy” and “Responsible Use of Technology Resources Policy.”
- Students, faculty, and staff will be e-mailed a copy of the “Copyright Infringement Policy” and Web site links for related policies at the beginning of each semester.
- Printed copies of the “Copyright Infringement Policy” will be made available upon request.
- Posters dealing with network security issues, including copyright infringement and file sharing are hung in public areas where students and faculty congregate (such as residence halls, the student union, and faculty lounge).
- Updated information and campus statistics related to this issue will be posted on the B‑W Information Technology Web site.
Monitoring
- Network Services utilized an inline packet analyzer to regulate bandwidth and classify Internet traffic by application. Monitoring for irregularities related to peer-to-peer traffic is conducted.
- Network behavior analysis software is readily available to monitor the network when indicated.
- Annually, Network Services staff will meet with I.T. management to discuss the violation statistics of the previous year and consider new/other measures for addressing this issue.
Responding
- All DCMA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notices are investigated and processed.
- Violations that occur on BW’s Internet traffic are reported to the I.T. Department by OARnet; this initiates a sequence of events as follows:
- The computer responsible for the violation is identified.
- An e-mail is sent to the violator notifying them of the infraction.
- When the violator is a resident student, copies of the e-mail are also sent to the Director of Residence Life and Judicial Affairs.
- The student has three days in which to respond and schedule a hearing.
- A typical penalty would result in the student:
- Being expected to delete all files.
- Ceasing from any further illegal activity of this sort.
- Writing a paper about copyright infringement.
- Being put on residential (and sometimes athletic) probation for a period of time.
- A typical penalty would result in the student:
- The student has three days in which to respond and schedule a hearing.
- Within budgetary allotments, I.T. will consider new opportunities to offer legal alternatives for downloading or acquiring copyrighted materials and address any newly emerging copyright issues as they come along.