TL;DR — Key Takeaways
- Federal law requires CMC to tell you unauthorized downloading is illegal and to point you toward legal alternatives — this page is that notice.
- Price has nothing to do with legality: free content can be lawful, and paid content can still be pirated.
- Educause maintains the definitive, regularly updated list of legitimate services for music, movies, TV, and software — linked below.
1. Overview
The Higher Education Opportunity Act requires all colleges and universities to offer legal alternatives to unauthorized downloading. This page is Claremont McKenna College's disclosure under that requirement, and it applies to anyone using CMC's network — students, faculty, and staff alike.
Unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material, including peer-to-peer file sharing of movies, music, television, and software, is illegal — regardless of whether you're doing it for personal use, and regardless of the platform or method.
2. Free Doesn't Mean Illegal — and Paid Doesn't Mean Legal
Content availability and price don't determine legality. Two distinctions are worth keeping straight:
Some of the sites listed below provide some or all content at no charge; they are funded by advertising or they represent artists who want their music distributed for free, or for other reasons. Just because content is free does not mean it's illegal.
You may find websites which are not on the list offering to sell content. Just because content is not free does not mean it's legal.
When in doubt, check the source against the Educause list below rather than assuming a price tag — or the lack of one — settles the question.
3. Legal Alternatives
Educause maintains a list of legitimate online services for acquiring music, movies, TV, and software legally — the most complete and current resource available, and the one CMC points students, faculty, and staff to rather than maintaining a separate list of our own.
4. Consequences of Unauthorized Sharing
Unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material can carry civil and criminal penalties under federal copyright law, independent of any action CMC takes. On top of that, activity that violates copyright law also violates CMC's Responsible Computing Policy and may result in loss of network access or referral for disciplinary action.
If you receive a copyright infringement notice regarding your use of the CMC network, or if you have questions about whether a specific service is a legal source, contact ITS Security or reach out to the Help Desk.