MP3s Stored on C Drive Could this be a school problem

[kingchristo]

We have a member of staff that has mp3s on the c drive that they listen to is this breaking any copyright laws and would you recomended that these are removed thanks

[Mcshammer_dj]

If the staff member owns the MP3 files legally and is not sharing them then no it is not illegal technically, however surley there should be some school rules on use of school equipment etc.

[kingchristo]

They are not sharing them

[pete]

Shall I assume that you don't have an Acceptable User Policy that covers this?

 

Does the school own the rights to the mp3s? They may do - ours buy stuff via Amazon and iTunes, especially if they teach music.

Does the member of staff own the rights to the mp3s? (see above)

Are the .mp3s commerical or free for non-commercial use? (Technology, for example use freely-licensed .mp3s for making circuit boards play through piezo speakers.

 

If the answer to all the above is no, they're infringing copyright using school equipment. If they're distributing (paid-for) commercial .mp3s to others without a license, they're infringing copyright. So they need to be removed from the machine.

 

But if you don't have an agreed-upon Acceptable User Policy that covers this, preventing it happening in the future is an uphill struggle and you will get much shouting, screaming and gnashing of teeth.

[theriver]

It is currently illegal to copy your CD's to MP3 (

Intellectual Property Office - Can I copy a CD that I have purchased onto my MP3 Player?), although this is set to change.

 

However there are many places to purchase and download MP3 files legally (Amazon, for example).

 

So unless you know the source of the files, you can't say whether your user is breaking the law or not.