ITS reminds UNMC faculty, staff and students to abide by all copyright laws. Everyone knows what this looks like using the traditional copy machine, but have you thought about the implications of illegally downloading or copying music files, photographs, software and movies electronically? These also are copyright violations.
One of the primary ways users download these types of files is by using software called “Peer to Peer” or “P2P.” Scour, Aimster, Kazaa and Morpheus are all common P2P software packages. This enables two computers to talk directly to each other and share files stored on their hard drives. Industry finds P2P software is most commonly used for illegally obtaining and sharing music or movies, which is a direct copyright violation. These types of downloads are also known to create an unusually high volume of traffic on company networks and can negatively impact response time for many users.
One measure ITS uses to minimize UNMC’s exposure to these types of illegal activities is to regularly monitor trends in network activity (not content) throughout the day. When an unusual amount of network traffic is found, an investigation is initiated. It is possible during the investigation that a violation to University policy is uncovered, such as illegally copied music or movies stored on hard drives. In these cases, the information is forwarded to Human Resources. The manager will then be responsible for working through the performance management process with Human Resources with appropriate disciplinary processes to take place as needed.
ITS reminds staff of the UNMC appropriate use policies and if P2P functionality is required, contact the ITS Help Desk at 559-7700 to seek an alternate technical solution.