We’ve received three copyright infringement notices from our friends at PLNet in the last couple of weeks.
Please note that downloading of music, unlicensed (pirated) movies, or unlicensed (pirated) software on our network (in schools and teacherages) is contrary to the acceptable use policy, board policy, and Canadian copyright law. Illegally downloading files opens our district to liability. For students and staff it may open them to disciplinary action and possibly legal action.
There is still some discussion regarding music downloading according to the law, but it is against the acceptable use policy for our district so it should not be done on our network.
School computers used by students generally are not able to download these types of files. Staff computers as well as private machines are the usual suspects as the user has rights to install the software that facilitates the downloading of illegal files.
Investigations are time consuming at the best of time and ultimately will result in a lower level of service to all of our staff.
This is a social and personal responsibility issue that needs to be addressed by all staff and students.