Law Schools

Brooklyn Law School Won't Turn In Illegal Downloaders After All

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Updated: For a while, it appeared as if students at Brooklyn Law School who illegally downloaded copyrighted movies and TV shows could get some firsthand experience with the court system.

Students received an ominous memo yesterday from chief information officer Phillip Allred, Above the Law reported. The memo warned that those who illegally download copyrighted material on the school’s wireless network will be revealed to the copyright holder.

“This semester we have received several warnings from our Internet service provider that copyrighted movies and TV shows are being downloaded illegally via our wireless network,” says the memo posted on Above the Law. “The Information Technology office is now ascertaining who is doing this. Once we have names of the individuals involved, we intend to give them to the copyright holders for enforcement purposes.”

Today, Allred send out a new e-mail, and yesterday’s get-tough attitude is missing. “Outside of the legal process, we are not obligated to turn over the names of the alleged infringers to copyright holders and will not do so,” says the e-mail, provided to the ABA Journal by Linda Harvey, associate dean for external affairs.

The Above the Law story breaking the news yesterday was titled “Is Brooklyn Law School Informing on Its Own Students?”

Updated at 1:45 p.m. to include the latest e-mail from Allred.

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