Student Assembly

Dear Student,

You are receiving this letter because at some point in the past you may have received a letter from an agency indicating that files may have been illegally shared on your computer. The Student Assembly would like your help in compiling statistics about these “settlement letters” that may be helpful to the Cornell Community. We are asking for your voluntary participation in the short survey below.

The purpose of this survey is to allow students at Cornell to make informed decisions about sharing computer files. In addition, these statistics will educate future students who receive settlement letters. Your participation in this survey is completely voluntary and all of your personal information will remain confidential and unconnected to your answers. These letters are being distributed and received by the Cornell Administration and no students, including members of the Student Assembly, have, and will ever see your name or any other personal information.

Please answer the following questions to the best of your ability. If you are uncertain about any of the answers, please just write “Unsure”. In addition, please feel free to omit any answers you do not feel comfortable giving.

1) As accurate as you can remember, when did you receive your last settlement letter?

Date:_________________

2) Which agency sent you the letter (RIAA, MPAA, etc.)?

3) Were the files in question uploaded or downloaded from your computer?

(a) Uploaded
(b) Downloaded
© Other. Please specify _________________________________

4) How many incidents of violations did the letter cite? (ie. How many files did the letter say were illegally shared?)

Number of violations:___________

5) What protocol does your letter indicate you used (DC++, Bit Torrent, etc.)?

6) How much time did the letter say you had to decide on the settlement?

7) Did you seek your own attorney, and if so, did they recommend that you settle?

i. (a) Consulted attorney.
(b) Sought advice elsewhere. Please specify_______________________
© Did not consult anyone.
ii. (a) Consultant recommended paying the settlement.
(b) Consultant recommended not paying the settlement.
© Consultant made a different recommendation. Please specify_________________
(d) N/A
8) Did you ultimately decide to settle by paying the settlement fine?

(a) Paid settlement fine in full.
(b) Did not pay any portion of the settlement fine.
© Other. Please specify______________________________________

9) Was a lawsuit ever subsequently brought against you by the agency?

(a) Yes
(b) No
© Other. Please specify______________________________________

10) Have you ever had any copyright dealings in the past? (Takedown notice, Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Subpoena, Other settlement letters, etc.)?

(a) Yes
(b) No
© Other. Please specify______________________________________

11) Do you have any other useful information you are willing to share with us?

Thank you very much for your participation in this voluntary survey. The answers you have provided will not be linked to your name in any way, but they will be valuable to all future students at Cornell. We hope to compile students’ answers to this survey and make statistics available to the Cornell Community in the near future.

Thanks again,

The Student Assembly