Like hundreds of Duke students, sophomore Sungho Yoo downloads a movie every now and then to watch with friends on a Friday night.
"There isn't a mall close by Duke," Yoo said. "It's much more convenient when you want a night in just to download a movie and watch it in the comfort of your dorm room."
On average, the Office of Judicial Affairs receives 15 to 20 repeat copyright infringement notices each year, but copyright infractions on campus have been rising recently, said David Frankel, assistant dean for judicial affairs.
Frankel said the increase may be due to a crackdown by copyright holders, as opposed to an actual increase in illegal downloading or file sharing at Duke.
Yoo said he has felt the heightened pressure first-hand this year.
"At one point I got three notices in a row in the space of three days, and I was like, 'Oh crap,'" Yoo said. "They send you to a website and you have to sign a statement that you will stop distributing the material and delete it from your computer."
When copyright holders identify Duke students illegally downloading protected material, they often send notices to the Office of Information Technology's security department, OIT Security Officer Chris Cramer said.
He added that OIT has received several hundred infringement notices this year.
OIT treats the initial notices from copyright holders as alleged cases of illegal downloading, Cramer said. He added that the office then sends a message to the student identified in order to warn him or her to stop any illegal activity on the Duke server.
If OIT receives a second notice of copyright infringement for the same student, its security office will notify the student's Residence Coordinator.
"We are hoping that by involving Residence Coordinators we can reduce the number of repeat offenses," Cramer said, adding that RCs are involved in order to educate students about the severity of illegal downloading.
If a student is identified for repeat instances of illegal downloading even after being referred to his or her RC, OIT will refer the student to Judicial Affairs.
If the student is found responsible for violation of the Computing and Electronic Communications Policy-which prohibits illegal downloading and other unauthorized use of the Duke server-the student receives a formal warning and can be required to participate in some form of educational reform. Repeat offenders receive more severe penalties.
"We're interested in finding ways to educate students about this larger issue-that even though in student culture and culture at large it's very common to download and share these works, it's still illegal," Frankel said.
Yoo said he thinks students will continue to download illegally regardless of penalties.
He added that the discontinuation of current Duke Student Government President Elliot Wolf's file-sharing server could have caused more people to download illegally this year.
Wolf, a junior, said students will obtain illegal material "whether it's through student file-sharing programs or internal programs that are legal or through illegal programs."
Wolf also said he could not yet predict how the newly available Ruckus program will affect illegal downloading, but said the program is not perfect.
"Ruckus is limited in that it doesn't have video content, and it's limited to Windows users," he said.
Wolf also said he thought it was unfortunate that Duke penalizes students for illegal downloading.
"The University is acting on behalf of corporations that have questionable claims and using these claims to intimidate students," Wolf said.
"The University is furthering these claims without any evidence of its own," he added.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.