LSU rolls out punishment policy for students who pirate stuff using the school’s network

By Konrad Krawczyk July 25, 2014

lsu to begin punishing fining students who pirate stuff piracy bay the — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Piracy is a big problem, of course, and governments along with private institutions are trying to figure out ways to stem the tide of thefts. Louisiana State University, which is commonly referred to as LSU, has developed a system where it will punish students for such infractions, with the severity of the punishements increasing with repeat offenders.

The policy was detailed in The Daily Reveille, which is the school’s official student newsletter. The school has decided that if a student is caught downloading something illegally using LSU’s Wi-Fi network, they will have their Internet access completely revoked. That student will have an opportunity to regain access, but only after completing a course which explains why illegal file sharing is no good, along with a DMCA incident report.

From there, the stakes get even higher. Repeat offenders will be subject to a variety of penalties. They include a $50 fine, a report on their LSU academic record, along with a referral to the Dean’s office for violating LSU’s code of student conduct. Ouch.

“We have a legal obligation to follow through on a complaint that’s filed from companies contacting us,” ITS communications and planning officer Sheri Thompson said. “It’s not considered punishment, but more of an education opportunity.”

There’s one caveat though. Companies who feel that their content is being pirated by an LSU student while using the school’s Wi-Fi network must do their due diligence and report the incident to the school. Otherwise, the school won’t punish that student. LSU says that they get between 15 and 20 piracy complaints per month.

It will be interesting to see whether this policy will result in the numbers of complaints falling once the fall semester begins, and whether other schools will adopt a similar approach to combating piracy on their networks.

Konrad Krawczyk

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Konrad covers desktops, laptops, tablets, sports tech and subjects in between for Digital Trends. Prior to joining DT, he…

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