Illegal Downloading at CSU in Fort Collins Comes With a Quarter Miilion Dollar Fine and Jail Time
Whether you unwittingly are downloading material at CSU or not the law doesn't care, you're gonna get busted. If you are doing it knowing that its illegal, you might want to think about the 250-thousand dollar fine and 3 years of jail time you could get. When you look at it like that saving a few bucks on music and movie downloads can't look that appealing anymore, or can it?
A lot of people, not just at CSU take part in this kind of activity and mostly get away with it. But people should take note that when you download a movie, tv show or music and then send it to a friend or two, you are now distributing it. Once you have sent the file to others, that's when it gets ugly and grossly illegal, resulting in huge fines and possible jail time.
At Colorado State University the network guidelines are very clear and work off of a three strike rule for violators. First time offenders will be locked out of the school's network and sent a letter of explanation requiring them then to take their computers to the Computer Diagnostic Center. The offenders computer will be scanned for any illegal file sharing programs, viruses, etc. This procedure will cost you $45. If there is a second offense, you will go through the same process as before, will now be charged $100 and will potentially face disciplinary action. A third offense will result in immediate and permanent termination from using the network, disciplinary action and if any materials found include identity theft, pornography or a handful of other criminal content the school will turn you over to the proper authorities.
The good news is that rarely does anyone ever get caught twice. But if you are ever unsure of the rules check it out first. And usually if it seems that it's wrong, it probably is.
[SOURCE:Collegian]