Received Email About Sharing Copyrighted Material


Question:

I received a message about sharing copyrighted material on my computer. What does this mean and what should I do?

Answer:

You received this email message because there was a complaint sent to the university saying that copyrighted material was being illegally shared from or hosted by a computer in your room. Using the information provided, the university has tracked this violation to your computer.

Included in the email message that you received is the identifying information from the complaint received by the university. This identifies which file or files your computer is sharing or hosting. The email message also identifies how the file or files were found (mIrc or other file sharing service). Using this information, you must complete the following steps:

    1. Disable file-sharing on your computer. For help, click here to search Google.

    2. Immediately remove the files listed in the email message.

    3. Follow all steps in the email you received. 

 

  1. Secure your computer.

    1. Uninstall all file-sharing or peer-to-peer programs from your computer. For help, click here to search Google.

    2. Follow the instructions at Protecting Your Computer.