• What you need to know about Copyright Law
• Are you violating the law? Were your files acquired legally?
• How to use Ruckus and listen to music legally
• How will The Citadel respond to violations?
• Review FAQs and get help removing offending programs/files

Copyright Law and the Digitial Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA)

U.S. Copyright Law protects a wide range of creative works and grants the owner of the work exclusive rights to make copies of the work, to make new works using part of the original work, distribute copies of the work, and display or perform the work publicly. Works protected include written works, movies, TV shows, music, photographs, art, software, and other original works of authorship.

If you share or make unauthorized copies of someone else's creative work you are stealing and breaking the law.

Federal law (Title 17, United States Code, Sanctions 501 & 506) provides severe civil and criminal penalties for unauthroized reproduction, distribution, rental or digital transmission of copyrighted recordings. Essentially, the law says you cannot have any files on your computer that you have not legally acquired. You cannot share a file with others without authorization from the file's copyright owner.

Additional information: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998

Are you stealing and violating the law? Do you have any illegal files?

Copyrighted material is available on the Internet and is distributed illegally by many methods.

You are stealing and violating the law if:

• you join a file-sharing network and use Peer-to-Peer (P2P) software like Limewire, Bnutella, Morpheus, Kaaza to upload/download copyrighted music, movies, or TV shows and share with others
• you load copies of songs on your public web page to share with others
• you send copyrighted music, movies, photos, or other copyrighted files to your friends using email or instant messaging
• you use an FTP or file transfer protocol account to access copyrighted files from a server
• you make copies of copyrighted music, games, or movies onto CD's or DVD's and give them to your friends
  
  Burning a backup CD of property you own is permitted as long as it is made from an authorized original CD that you legitimately own; you use it on your own iPod or MP3 player; and it is only for your personal use. You cannot lend it to others for copying.

How to use Ruckus and listen to music legally

The Citadel pays the subscription fee to provide all enrolled students with a free subscription to Ruckus. Also, visit your favorite artist's website as many artists offer free downloads of their songs for your personal use. Many companies also provide fee-based or free services for legal downloads. Some popular alternatives include Apple, Yahoo, Sony Connect, Walmart, Napster; however, be wary and research thoroughly before you subscribe as not all companies that claim to be legitimate actually are.

Use these instructions to register your Citadel account with Ruckus.

How will The Citadel respond to violations?

Breaking the law is a criminal offense and a violation of college policy which will be treated with zero-tolerance. Upon notification of a violation, the Commandant will issue punishment to the offending student(s). The offending computer's web browser will be redirected to a notification web page alerting the user that s/he is in violation of a copyright infringement and must remove unlawful files immediately.

Review FAQs and get help removing files/programs

Find more information in the following Frequently Asked Questions list. If you believe you have an illegal file-sharing program installed on your computer, you can use Windows Add/Remove Programs to uninstall it and delete the files or enter a Hotline and a technician will assist you.

Frequently Asked Questions