Antipiracy witch hunts seem to be getting out of control these days. Torrent-associated search engines are being targeted by authorities despite the fact that they don’t actually own any of the copyright infringing material, and now simply possessing a wireless router is apparently suspicious activity.
Until yesterday, the Information Technology Services department at Boston College warned students that having a wireless router present in their room could give the appearance that they were guilty of copyright infringement.
The issue came to light on Wednesday after Copyright Attorney Ray Dowd posted about the situation on his blog, asking why in the world the university would advise students in that manner since wireless routers were usually used as a defense for copyright infringement rather than incriminating evidence.
“This is the first time I have heard that colleges and universities are teaching America’s youth that using a wireless router constituted copyright infringement, can anyone educate me as to where this came from?” Dowd writes.
The statement in question was posted on Boston College’s IT Services Help website under the heading Common Examples of Copyright Infringement. Among the standard cautions about sharing copyrighted music was the following:
“Using a wireless router in your room; others may share illegal material through your router, giving the appearance that you are the guilty party.”
The college has now removed the example from their website.
Let’s hope that what the BC IT staff really meant by the example was that leaving your router unsecured could cause problems, but why not just say that?
