Did you know Downloading Music and Movies might get you into trouble?

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has recently increased its threat of lawsuits against students and others who engage in illegal digital file sharing. This is in response to perceived violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, which specifically addresses copyright infringement of digital materials such as music, movies and software. As you may know from recent press reports, the RIAA is now targeting individuals who live in university residence halls or use university computing resources. Because the RIAA can only identify violators by their ISP (Internet Service Provider) identifier, they are sending letters to universities requesting that these letters be forwarded to students, faculty and staff. The RIAA notified UWM of its plans to send settlement proposal letters for individuals on the UWM campus whom they believe are guilty of violating federal copyright laws. These letters request that a monetary settlement be made by the violator in lieu of court action by the RIAA. After consultation with UW System, our own legal counsel and with our understanding of federal law, UWM has decided that these letters will not be passed on to individuals. However, should RIAA send UWM a lawful subpoena for users’ account information, UWM will comply.

Has your virus subscription run out?

To help protect your computer against viruses, both known and yet to be created, you should be using a virus-scanning application. McAfee VirusScan is the product that all members of the campus community should use and faculty, students, and staff have access to a no-cost, pre-configured, and automated version of McAfee VirusScan. This virus-scanning software runs transparently on your computer and helps to keep it from becoming infected with viruses. The software also regularly updates itself. Download McAfee 8.5 at www.security.uwm.edu

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