Bowling Green Launches Antipiracy Program

Bowling Green State University has begun implementing an antifile-sharing campaign that suspends Internet service to students who are found illegally sharing copyrighted files over peer-to-peer networks, the BG News reports. As part of the DMCA Copyright Safeguard Program, the first strike is punished with a 24-hour ban from service, strike two is a two-week block, and strike three means a loss of service for the rest of the semester.

The program began October 10, and as of October 16, 191 computers were cited for violating the policy. According to the university's IT director, the school received 658 cease and desist notices from the Recording Industry Association of America, the second-highest number of notices in Ohio.

The school is still working out the kinks in the program, but some students told the BG News they have become unintended victims in the manhunt. World of Warcraft players have been tragically caught up in the antipiracy furor and say they have had their perfectly legal "updates and so forth" flagged for shutdown.