All students using Aiken Technical College computers or communications services must agree to the following terms of use: 

All use must be for lawful purposes only. You shall not post any material on, or transmit any that: 

1. violates or infringes in any way the rights of any third party. 

2. is unlawful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, vulgar, obscene, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable. 

3. encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, gives rise to civil liability or otherwise violates any law. 

While navigating the Internet you will encounter sites that contain copyrighted material, trademarks and other proprietary information including text, software, photos, video, graphics, music and sound. Please be aware that this material is protected by copyright under the United States and foreign laws. Unauthorized use of such material may violate copyright, trademark and other laws. You may not sell, reproduce, display, publicly perform, distribute or otherwise use such material in any way for public or commercial use without specific written permission from the copyright holder. You may also not copy or adapt the HTML code that creates such content. 

Further, please be aware that you are responsible for your own communications and for the consequences of their posting. The uploading, posting or otherwise making available material protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right is strictly forbidden unless you are the owner or you have the express permission of the owner of the copyright, trademark or other proprietary right. You shall be solely liable for any damages resulting from any infringement of copyright, trademark or other proprietary right, or any other harm resulting from any uploading, posting or submission. 

Note too that it is illegal for anyone to distribute copyrighted material without authorization using peer-to-peer file sharing. Students who have a legitimate need to share files should contact one of the legal download services listed here: educause.edu/legalcontent 

Students who violate ATC’s Computer Use Policy may be subject to civil and criminal liabilities. 

Copyright infringement is the act of exercising, without permission or legal authority, one or more of the exclusive rights granted to the copyright owner under section 106 of the Copyright Act (Title 17 of the United States Code). These rights include the right to reproduce or distribute a copyrighted work. In the file-sharing context, downloading or uploading substantial parts of a copyrighted work without authority constitutes an infringement. 

Penalties for copyright infringement include civil and criminal penalties. In general, anyone found liable for civil copyright infringement may be ordered to pay either actual damages or "statutory" damages affixed at not less than $750 and not more than $30,000 per work infringed. For "willful" infringement, a court may award up to $150,000 per work infringed. A court can, in its discretion, also assess costs and attorneys' fees. For details, see Title 17, United States Code, Sections 504, 505. Willful copyright infringement can also result in criminal penalties, including imprisonment of up to five years and fines of up to $250,000 per offense. 

For more information, please see the Web site of the U.S. Copyright Office at www.copyright.gov, especially their FAQ's at www.copyright.gov/help/faq.