Enforcement Procedure

If you are caught sharing copyrighted material on the Internet, UC Berkeley receives a “take down” notice from the agency representing the copyright holder (RIAA, MPAA, etc.) The University then forwards residence hall complaints to Residential Computing (ResComp).

ResComp then sends an email letting the resident know that we received a take down notice resulting in the de-activation of their In-Room Connection for 1 week. In this email, we encourage the resident to look at legal options for file-sharing on the Internet.

The email also notes that in the case of a second copyright infringement notice, the In-Room Connection will once again be disabled and an incident report will be filed to the Manager for Student Judicial Affairs and Compliance.

It is possible for you to get caught sharing copyrighted material and not receive a take down notice. Instead, UC Berkeley receives a subpoena warning on your behalf and ResComp sends you a formal notice of the impending subpoena, as well as a copy of the subpoena warning. In the formal notice, you are advised to seek legal counsel at your own cost or contact the Office of Attorney for Students.

The other possibility is that the resident accused of allegedly sharing copyrighted material may never receive a subpoena or take down notice, but rather a "pre-settlement letter." In this scenario, RIAA lets the resident know that they've been caught illegally sharing copyrighted material and they can either pay the "fines" up front, or risk actually getting sued.

We highly encourage you to use legal file-sharing services for obtaining music on the Internet.