- May 6, 2024
- Posted by: legaleseblogger
- Category: Related News
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## AI Legalese Decoder: Helping Clear Your Name in University Investigation
Throwaway account to avoid identification.
I was accused of breaking the law on my university computer account by accessing inappropriate web material (torrenting files). While I haven’t done so, I’m wanting to cooperate with their investigation to help clear my name.
I got a call today from the university saying that as the investigation was serious they may have to involve the police and they require I do not speak to any other student on my course during the investigation (I am suspended from uni and its a computer science course). They warned me they can fine me for violating this and that it would be passed onto the police. I asked for that in writing via email and they haven’t got back to me yet. The University’s disciplinary process doesn’t mention not speaking to people.
I live in a student house with 3 other people also on my course, and we’re all good friends. Is the university allowed to fine me or expel me for speaking to my housemates?
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****** just grabbed a
Are you sure they said don’t speak to anyone at all in any context, and not don’t speak to people about the details of the investigation?
Just useful to get a sense of what exactly they’ve asked.
Torrenting anything on the university network or devices may be against uni policy and they could discipline you for this, it would not be a police matter.
Torrenting copyright material is likely against uni policy and is illegal and could be a police matter, though unlikely to be so.
Torrenting child sexual abuse material will be against uni policy and will get the police involved.
It may be uni policy to tell people under investigation not to talk to other students about the investigation, breaking this policy would not be a police matter and the police would ignore it were it “passed on to them”.
Any uni policy that bans you from speaking to other students at all during an investigation would be unenforceable and excessive. They would be unable to fine or expel you. They might try it, but you’d ultimately win that battle.
The police could put stricter rules on who you speak to but they would have to tell you about them first.
Absent the confirmation of the situation in writing, this all sounds odd And like someone is making stuff up. Are you sure you’re not being pranked?
Where was the torrenting supposed to have taken place and what files are they accusing you of downloading? Torrenting itself is not illegal anyway.
>by accessing inappropriate web material (torrenting files).
Torrenting what exactly?
>I live in a student house with 3 other people also on my course and we’re all good friends. Is the university allowed to fine me or expel me for speaking to my housemates?
Universities aren’t particularly joined up, and they won’t have noticed that your housemates are on the same course.
Speak to them, and seek clarification; a compromise might be that you can talk to them but not about the case.
Speak to the students union, who will have seen this sort of thing before.
And speak to a solicitor – one specialising in whichever area of law you’re alleged to have broken.
NAL but have you confirmed in person this actually is the university? It all sounds a bit suspicious and any day now you’re going to be asked for money to pay this mysterious fine
Most torrenting cases are civil law, not criminal. Therefore, the uni have no reason to involve the police.
They have no idea what they’re talking about – I’d highly advise talking to your students’ union, as they’ll be better placed to give you advice relevant to your institution.
NAL. Honestly, dude(or dudette)… it seems it’s a scam. Were you identified by your full name? Did you confirm phone number was actual university?
I think you accessed torrents without vpn (use tor browser at least), and someone got access info. Maybe your email, maybe ip of university. Heck knows. But if they at any stage ask even for £1. Or ask you bank details to “confirm identity”. Do not give them any info. Demand things in writing or email. It seems they already backed off.
Be smart, I’m like 80% sure it’s a scam attempt using scare tactics.
They’re talking bullshit, they don’t know wtf they’re doing. They cannot stop you talking to anyone.
Do not give them money. Contact student support.
Ask the uni for any evidence they may have. Do not volunteer anything, do not be helpful, do not let them near your computer as they have no right to it. If they try to take it call police for theft
I agree the threat of “don’t talk to anyone else about this” could be that it’s a scam and they don’t want you talking to someone who will tell you its a scam. it’s like when theyre like “go and buy us 500 amazon gift cards but under no circumstances tell the cashier what they’re for because reasons”
are you sure you’ve been suspended? all sounds quite weird
Torrenting isn’t illegal. Hell, there are official torrent links for Ubuntu. What matters is the actual content. Torrenting copyrighted material is illegal. Have you torrented legal software?
Don’t get me wrong, copyright theft is a crime, but describing it as ‘serious’ is going a bit far. Assuming there is no stolen material on your computer, I can’t see the police lifting a finger.
As for the fines, it is a possibility if you have agreed to some kind agreement to that effect when you enrolled. Unis to fine students for stuff. It seems a bit of an overreach to not allow you to speak to people you are living with. It would be reasonable for them to not allow you to discuss the investigation, maybe.
Why are they involving the police? Or are the police involved already?
It’ll be civil anyway if you’re downloading copyright material, torrents are not illegal, some Linux distros use torrents..
As far as them saying you can’t talk to anyone.. they can’t demand whatsoever. Is this a real university? They don’t sound like they know what they’re doing
1. They probably mean don’t talk to them about the case
2. What have you been accused of downloading
Do you have any of this in writing? It’s extremely unlikely that anyone working at a university would be calling student and not immediately following up with an email about this and even less likely that they’d do so on a weekend.
Torrenting is against the rules on the uni network and you would get pulled up for it and have to go through the disciplinary process but unless it was something illegal then the uni wouldn’t involve the police.
I suggest you speak to your Students Union advice team first thing on Tuesday. Also contact your Dean of Students office or similar. They will have a whole team dealing with student conduct and I recommend that you politely and professionally email them for clarification.
Sorry but it all sounds a bit funny to me. I work in University IT so…
Torrenting files (illegal so videos, software etc.) is a breach of any University IT policy but unless OP withheld some information even academic suspension sounds a bit harsh.
Usually there is a warning that such activity has been detected and you are suspected. What are the circumstances of alleged download? Was it a library PC or your own private device using university wifi (presumably eduroam)?
And a reason why academic suspension sounds harsh is that first it is imperative to establish if it was you really downloading it? Mind that even ISP’s if they detect P2P traffic on your IP they ask – was that definitely you? They avoid direct accusation. Could your account been compromised or maybe you willingly shared the details – you are still in breach of IT but for a completely different reason. Unless again, one has already been warned x amount of times.
Please don’t read my comment as accusation. The reason why it looks like that is that it all looks completely blown out of proportion if indeed you didn’t download anything. And even if you did it is usually a warning and a chat with student advisor under direction of IT.
Interesting enough maybe the Uni is in the process of joining 21st century and has no IT policy and don’t know what to do themselves. Should they call a police, or an army? There is also university liability for such traffic so they need to cover their bases.
As for non speaking with roommates – load of bull. It’s not a breach of exam conduct unless they might suspect you housemates. Again eve police knows it’s non enforceable
NAL. This sincerely looks like a scam. Asking you not to talk to anyone about it is a huge red flag. This way you won’t bring it up to anyone and get guidance on it. Universities cannot issue fines to you. The worst a uni can do is issue you a parking fine.
Make a note of the email address, send that and the email to your university tutor and cc in the students union for confirmation this is genuine. That will give you all the answer you need. If there has been a data breach of student emails, a student/staff member is blackmailing you, or this scam is being coordinated across the university, staff should be aware so they can raise awareness and shut it down.
If you say you did not do this, then this is all the more reason it’s a scam. It doesn’t sit right. Be patient, calm, and do not reply any further to emails from that address and DO NOT GIVE AWAY PERSONAL DETAILS. Get your tutor, student support services, and the SU involved.
NAL.
People don’t get to dictate who you do or do not speak to. Take the contact details of the person who told you that you can’t and raise a formal complaint against them.
From what you’ve said you’ve not been convicted of any crime, only accused of one. They don’t get to say what you can or cannot do.
NAL but a former Senior Registry Officer for a university
You’ve triggered a Student Disciplinary Process, and while an investigation is underway, the university can make reasonable requests to aid them in their investigation. This can include requesting you do not contact any housemates or course mates while suspended.
If you feel this is overkill then you can speak to your student union, however the likelihood is your university has a subsection of regulations that include a paragraph that mentions reasonable measures and sanctions they can impose while an SDP is in progress. Ceasing contact with key people they wish to ask questions is one of them, should you find the urge to perhaps offer up favours for their compliance to your version of events, for example.
Personally, I would save your energy and ride it out. If there’s no wrong doing as you say then after the investigation you can request mediation to put right any reputational damage you feel you may have suffered as a result of being accused of something.
If there’s even a kernel of truth to the investigation then I strongly suggest complying without too much fuss. Fighting against something they might be able to prove i.e. use of certain sites or downloads of illicit/copyrighted material using a university network is super easy to prove and will not favour you in the long run.
Edit: downvote me all you want my dudes I’m the only one who has first hand experience of this so far.
If they don’t want torrenting then they could simply block it…
Some operating systems use torrents to download like Kali, could you get away with that or do they have specifics??