Posted on 11/25/2002 3:01:28 PM PST by I_Love_My_Husband
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Officials at the U.S. Naval Academy have seized the computers of nearly 100 students in a search for bootlegged music and movies, an Academy official confirmed Monday.
Cadets could face court martial or expulsion if investigators find digital songs or other copyrighted material on their hard drives.
Naval Academy administrators seized the desktop computers last Thursday while students were in class, newspapers in Baltimore and Annapolis, Maryland, reported.
An academy spokeswoman confirmed that the reports were accurate but declined further comment.
Record labels and movie studios worry that the wild popularity of programs like Kazaa and Morpheus that allow users to download songs and other material from the Internet for free is cutting into their sales.
Entertainment groups sent a letter to thousands of colleges and universities last month asking them to crack down on the use of such programs on their internal high-speed networks.
The letter asked administrators to tell students that the activity was illegal and punish violators.
"We appreciate institutions who take intellectual property theft seriously," said a spokesman for the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites). "However, we do not dictate what their enforcement policies should be, and, in this particular instance, we do not know the facts of the case."
Academy spokesman Cmdr. Bill Spann told the Baltimore Sun that students found to have improperly downloaded copyrighted material could face penalties from a loss of liberty to court martial and expulsion.
Students at the Annapolis academy receive a computer when they enter school and pay it off gradually over their four years.
The recording industry has also taken the software makers to court and asked the U.S. Justice Department (news - web sites) and individual Internet providers to help enforce copyright laws.
Because the service academies adhere to an honor code. Cadets and Midshipmen do not lie, cheat , or steal, or tolerate those that do. Controversial as this may be, Mids and Cadets know the rules, and know very well the consequences of violations. If they can not live by the rules honorably in this situation, they can not be entrusted with the lives of troops or national assets in positions of higher responsibility. Sorry for them, but the institution is a stake and it is worth far more than the education of a few students with no more to do with the taxpayers money than download music.
USNA84
I have racks of music CD's in my office, of which many have been ripped to my office PC so I can create playlists from them. The symphonies stay on the CD's. Shorter pieces are ripped.
All of these practices are not merely legal, but encouraged by the copyright holders. I do not expect, however, that Naval Academy administrators are capable of such fine distinctions, and do expect that they will blast the incipient careers of many innocent cadets.
This is not an area for criminal sanctions. The Navy risks alienating prospective techies and pointing them towards the Air Force instead.
I have personal knowledge that this is already happening. My daughter's boyfriend Willie is entering the Air Force after Christmas and told me that the Navy has a reputation for cluelessness among geeks. The administration of my town's high school was terrified when Willie graduated last year, for fear of losing his services, and offered him $2500 a month for a year as a consultant to keep on doing for them what he did as a student, and train a better-paid replacement, before joining the service. Willie wouldn't let the Navy recruiter in the door.
Willie has every episode of Pinky and the Brain in German on DVD. He says it's funnier in German. I like him.
Damned good question.
I think you underestimate the integrity of those in uniform who are responsible for raising our future leadership, both in the service academy administrations, and fellow students who do honor the code.
The Navy risks alienating prospective techies and pointing them towards the Air Force instead.
None of the service academies want there reputations tarnished by dishonosty and poor character. And prospective techies with no integrity are of little use in the professional military. As a leader, or in my leaders, I want people I can trust who will do the right thing and look out for their troops, not who is most 'high tech'.
My daughter's boyfriend Willie is entering the Air Force after Christmas and told me that the Navy has a reputation for cluelessness among geeks.
An immature attitude that I hope he outgrows if he is to be a successful military officer.
Answer provided in #6
Er, what "immature attitude"? I don't see any reason to doubt that the Navy has such a reputation. The progress of the investigation, and its competence at differentiating between lawful fair use and illicit bootlegging (if any), will illustrate whether or not the reputation is justified.
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