Thousands of students at the University of Manitoba (U of M) have received copyright infringement letters that threaten loss of scholarships, lawsuits, and deportation.
Nearly 8,000 copyright infringement letters have been processed by the copyright office at the U of M since updates to the 2012 Copyright Modernization Act came into effect in 2015, according to an article from The Manitoban, U of M’s student newspaper.
Under the new “notice-and-notice” law, copyright holders can notify Internet Service Providers (ISPs) of alleged copyright infringements over illegal downloads. The ISP is then required to forward the notice to the suspected IP address and inform the copyright holder that the notice has been delivered.
But some letters to U of M students have threatened students with expensive lawsuits, revoking of scholarships, or deportation if a cash settlement is not paid, according to The Manitoban.
“One would be foolish to respond to a notice like that,” said Samuel Trosow, a law professor at the University of Western Ontario. “It’s a trap. These instances of abusive notices that are coming from rights holders demonstrate that there’s a gap in the law that needs to be filled.”
He added that “students—particularly vulnerable students—should not be subject to this type of harassment.”
Geoff LeBoldus, a senior IT security analyst with Carleton University’s Computing and Communications Services (CCS), said that it is “very uncommon” for him to hear back from Carleton students with questions once they receive a copyright infringement notice.
According to an article published last year in the Charlatan, CCS receives a “couple thousand” infringement notices every year. Carleton is required to save each notice for up to a year in the event of a legal case.
LeBoldus said he receives threatening notices from rights holders similar to the ones at the U of M, but not frequently.
“In the current law, there’s not supposed to be a settlement portion in the notice that’s received,” LeBoldus said. “So the fact that these people are sending notices with the settlement link in them . . . that’s technically not legal in Canada,” he said.
Michael Geist, an internet law professor at the University of Ottawa, said the types of notices he’s seen “typically are designed to pressure the recipient into settling.”
“The notices typically claim that the student could face thousands in liability, and they urge them to click on a link, which takes them to a settlement page,” Geist said. “Every week I get emails from people that have received these, or at times they’ve paid without really thinking, because they get scared, and then only afterwards realize what’s just taken place.”
The maximum fine for copyright violation in Canada is $5,000.
U of M’s copyright strategy manager, Joel Guénette, urged student recipients in an interview with CBC News to “think long and hard before responding directly to the rights holder.”
According to both Geist and LeBoldus, there has yet to be a case of someone actually being sued regarding these copyright infringement letters.
“I think there should be concern for frankly all Canadians about misuse of the system and attempts to pressure people into settling these kinds of cases,” Geist said.
“Something has to happen,” Trosow agreed. “I think the universities as a whole need to have a much stronger set of best practices or policies in how to deal with [copyright notices.]”
