Both Augusta and Bangor campus are equipped with state-of-the-art networking services. Laptop wireless access (via the “Eduroam” network connection at any University location) is available to all who have an active MaineStreet account within the University of Maine System. Visit http://wifi.maine.edu/eduroam/ for information on how to connect. Please read our section regarding downloading copyrighted material.

Both hardware and software may be purchased by students at a discount through the UMaine University Bookstore, a division of the University of Maine System. Visit them on the web at https://bookstore.umaine.edu/ or call 207-581-1728.

University students may access their individual university email account anywhere Internet access is available at http://gmail.maine.edu. Visit http://accounts.maine.edu to manage your account, including activation. If you have any questions or need assistance, contact IT at http://itsupport.maine.edu or call 1-800-696-4357.

Student Computing Use Policy

The student computer labs at the University of Maine at Augusta (UMA) are funded entirely from student-paid technology fees. Because the department of University Technical Support (UTS) and UMA have a responsibility to ensure computer resources are available for currently enrolled, fee-paying students, this policy must be adhered to. The computer labs are resources for University students.

Classrooms
The Instructor’s Station and Smart Technology in each classroom is intended for academic use ONLY during classes. Students are to use the computer study lab and follow lab policies when computer use is necessary.

Standards of Behavior

It is expected that all lab users will adhere to University behavior standards and norms of common courtesy as stated in the student handbook.

Food and drink are NOT allowed near the computer equipment (accidents happen). Please cooperate by leaving food and drinks either at the front of the lab or inside a bag. Lab Assistants have been instructed to ask you to remove all food and drink from computer tables.

Violation of any of the UMA student computing policies may result in suspension of account. Use is a privilege not a right.

You are expected to exercise responsible, legal, and ethical behavior and to act with discretion when using the userid, equipment, and/or facilities. Interfering with other userids, equipment, and/or facilities can result in loss of privileges. You are expected to cooperate with legitimate requests from UMA staff, and to treat other lab users with dignity and respect.

Use of earphones is allowed for sound only (must bring your own pair with you). Voice chat is prohibited.

Students are expected to be considerate of other students, and to respect the privacy and confidentiality rights of others. Labs are available for academic uses and students should conduct themselves properly. No socializing is allowed in areas of quiet study. Cell phone use is strictly prohibited.

Unacceptable uses of behaviors include, but are not limited to:

  • Violating the privacy of others
  • Harassing other computer lab users or UMA staff
  • Accessing or using files, data, or passwords of others
  • Violating or attempting to violate software license agreements
  • Violating or attempting to violate system security
  • Damaging or attempting to alter lab equipment
  • Disrupting or monitoring electronic communications

Unified Fee/Technology Fee

The Unified Fee/Technology Fee is intended to enhance the technology in UMA’s learning environment. This fee covers a portion of the costs associated with the purchase and maintenance of computer hardware, network servers, scanners, Internet Access, software licenses, and specialized, technology-based classroom equipment, such as microscopes. The Unified Fee/Technology Fee is not intended to subsidize the personal use of expendable supplies.

User Accounts

Report any unauthorized use of your account to the UTS staff. The user account assigned to you is for your use only. Only registered students of the University of Maine System are allowed to use a student computer. Logging on to more than one computer at any given time will not be allowed. Logging on to let someone else use your ID and password is not allowed. Any wrongful activity originating from your account will result in you being held accountable. Do not share your id or password.

Software Copying

The University of Maine at Augusta does not condone and specifically forbids the unauthorized duplication of software . Students are not permitted to install their own copies of any software onto the University of Maine at Augusta machines. Students are not permitted to copy software from University of Maine at Augusta computers or servers and install it on home or any other computers.

Accessing or copying files, including printed copy belonging to someone else, is prohibited without permission from the owner. Altering another user’s files or system files without permission, is vandalism and is destruction of University property. System and application files are copyrighted and licensed software.

Internet Access

UMA does not block, monitor, or limit access to any web sites based on their content. UMA disclaims any warranty for any information found on the Internet as to its accuracy, authority, timeliness, or usefulness. UMA also disclaims any control over, or knowledge about changes in content to the sources for which it has established links, or for the content of sources accessed through secondary links. Students are expected to be responsible adults while browsing the Web. Inappropriate behavior that interferes with another student’s work will not be tolerated.

Security Flaws

Report security flaws. All multi-user systems have security flaws. The acceptable, ethical course of action when you discover a security flaw is to report it to the UTS staff. If you wish to help the UTS staff track down the flaw(s), contact them and volunteer your services.

Results of Unacceptable Behavior

Unacceptable behavior has an adverse effect on the work of others, on the ability of UMA staff to provide good service, and on information resources themselves. It is expected that users of all labs at UMA will be responsive to others’ complaints and receptive to UMA staff reasonable requests for changes in behavior or action.

University Technology Services staff will attempt to resolve differences and problems among lab users by asking for the cooperation of those involved, and for compliance with UMA policies. UTS staff will pursue misconduct that cannot be resolved informally with the general means it has available within the University and with law enforcement, as appropriate.

Students should read and be familiar with UMA’s policy regarding copyright infringement and illegal downloading

Protect yourself by learning which downloads are legal, which ones aren’t, and the consequences that come with illegal downloading.

Downloading Do’s and Don’ts:

The RIAA webpage provides a great list of do’s and don’ts of downloading material on the internet. Below are just a few FAQ’s pulled from their site that may be most important to you:

Yes. Owning a CD means you own one copy of the music, and the U.S. record industry believes you should be able to make whatever personal use you choose. For example, you may make a compilation recording (on tape or on a CD) to use in the car or while exercising. But it’s a very different matter – and clearly neither legal nor fair – to make a copy of that CD or even one song available on the Internet for others to take.

The sound recording copyright holders own the music itself, and have a number of rights under current federal law that include the right to control the reproduction, distribution, adaptation, and various digital transmissions of their works. Therefore, creating unauthorized MP3 sites by copying sound recordings to a server for other people to download and/or offering such recordings for download is a violation of copyright law. Making tapes or CDs of recordings downloaded from the Internet without permission from the copyright owner is a violation of copyright law. Read more about copyright law.

The First Amendment does not grant a right to infringe copyrighted works.

The RIAA and the music industry as a whole are dedicated to protecting the First Amendment rights of Americans, including the rights of artists to be heard, even if their lyrics are offensive to some. If you are interested in learning about First Amendment issues that are currently facing artists, check out the Freedom of Speech section.

Penalties for copyright infringement include civil and criminal penalties. In general, anyone found liable for civil copyright infringement may be ordered to pay either actual damages or “statutory” damages affixed at not less than $750 and not more than $30,000 per work infringed. For “willful” infringement, a court may award up to $150,000 per work infringed. A court can, in its discretion, also assess costs and attorneys’ fees. For details, see Title 17, United States Code, Sections 504, 505.

Willful copyright infringement can also result in criminal penalties, including imprisonment of up to five years and fines of up to $250,000 per offense.

Yes. The question of whether or not you are charging does not impact the answer to whether or not you are violating copyright law. If you don’t hold the copyright, you can’t sell or even give away unauthorized copies of the sound recording without permission. In addition, the No Electronic Theft (“NET”) Act, which amended Section 506 of the Copyright Act, clarified that even if a site barters or trades infringing materials and doesn’t charge or otherwise make a profit there still may even be criminal liability. Additionally, you may face civil liability, including statutory damages of up to $150,000 per copyright infringement, even if you’re just giving away the files.

In the U.S., almost every work created privately and originally after March 1, 1989, is copyrighted and protected whether or not it has a notice.

U.S. law may well apply when the uploading and/or downloading takes place in the United States, even if the server is physically located in another country. Additionally, the copyright laws of foreign countries are, in many cases, similar to those in the United States. U.S. trade law allows the Office of the United States Trade Representative to take action against those countries that fail to provide adequate and effective copyright protection and market access.

Liability for copyright infringement is not necessarily limited to the persons or entities who created (or encoded) the infringing sound file. In addition to being directly liable for infringing conduct occurring via the site, a linking site may be contributorily or vicariously liable for facilitating copyright infringement occurring at the sites to which it links.

Contributory liability may be found where a person, with knowledge of the infringing activity, induces, causes, or materially contributes to the infringing conduct of another. A link site operator may be liable for contributory infringement by knowingly linking to infringing files.

Vicarious liability may be imposed where an entity has the right and ability to control the activities of the direct infringer and also receives a financial benefit from the infringing activities. Liability may be imposed even if the entity is unaware of the infringing activities. In the case of a linking site, providing direct access to infringing works may show a right and ability to control the activities of the direct infringer and receiving revenue from banner ads may be evidence of a financial benefit.

Legal alternatives for downloading:

https://www.educause.edu/legalcontent

UMA procedure for handling unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material

Part 1: The plan to effectively combat copyright infringement

1-1. Link to relevant Web page(s)
University of Maine at Augusta Copyright Site

1-2. What technology-based deterrent(s) have you decided to use?
A vigorous program of accepting and responding to DMCA notices.

1-3. What mechanism(s) are you using to educate your community?

Electronic Newsletter
We send an electronic newsletter to all registered students every semester, reminding them to know the institution’s policy related to copyright infringement and that copyright infringement may subject them to civil and criminal penalties. In the newsletter, they are given the link to the institution’s webpage that also includes a summary of the penalties for violating Federal copyright law, as well as a description of the institution’s actions that are taken.

Student Handbook
Every semester, we send an email to all registered students, notifying them of the link to the student handbook. In this email, we highlight specific important policies that students need to know and direct them to the chapter in the student handbook pertaining to copyright infringement and that copyright infringement may subject them to civil and criminal penalties. This also has the link to our copyright site.

1-4. What procedures are you using for handling unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material (e.g., monitoring, sanctions, etc.)?

  1. As a part of its compliance with federal copyright law, The University of Maine at Augusta deploys a procedure to respond to notices of copyright violation by copyright holders. This procedure operates as follows:
  2. The Digital Millennium Copyright Agent for the University of Maine system requests that the UMA IT staff disable the Internet Protocol (IP) address alleged by the notice to be in violation of federal law.
  3. One of the IT staff members researches the request and if applicable, disables the (IP) address assigned to the laptop of the alleged violation and notifies the Director of Computer Services.
  4. The Director of Computer Services then notifies the user or responsible party with an email detailing our procedures. The user must bring the laptop in question to the IT department in either Augusta or Bangor so the IT staff can verify the material has been deleted, in order to regain network access. Students are asked to read the UMA copyright site and are warned what happens upon a second offense.
  5. Second offenses trigger an automatic referral to the Student Conduct Officer.

1-5. How are you periodically reviewing the plan? What criteria are you using to determine if it is effectively combating copyright infringement?
Our response procedures are continually reviewed for effectiveness and relevance

Part 2: Offering Alternatives

2-1. Link to relevant Web page(s)
https://www.educause.edu/legalcontent

2-2. Are you carrying out your own survey of alternatives or linking to one or more lists maintained by others? If the latter, which list(s)?
Linking to: https://www.educause.edu/legalcontent.

2-3. Have you made any special arrangements with one or more content providers to obtain content through legal methods?
Ruckus was used until they went out of business on February 6, 2009.

Part 3: Informing the Community

3-1. Link to relevant Web page(s)
The University of Maine at Augusta Copyright Site includes copyright references and links to copyright issues in education.

3-2. Have you developed your own statement regarding copyright and copyright law in general or are you linking to such statement(s) maintained by others? If the latter, which statement(s)?