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AP: Music Companies Targeting Colleges
eSchool News staff and wire service reports
February 21, 2007
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6876
Schools receiving many more complaints this year about pirated music on campus networks
The music industry is stepping up its efforts to crack down on illegal music
downloading and file-sharing on campus networks: According to an Associated
Press inquiry, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has sent
thousands more complaints to colleges and universities this school year than
it did last year--and schools that don't cooperate with the trade group
could be subject to a lawsuit.
February 21, 2007—Cracking down on college students, the music industry
is sending thousands more complaints to top universities this school year than it
did last year as it targets music illegally downloaded over campus computer networks.
A few schools, including Ohio and Purdue universities, already have received more
than 1,000 complaints accusing individual students since last fall, the Associated
Press (AP) reports--significant increases over the past school year. For students
who are caught, punishments vary from eMail warnings to semester-long suspensions
from classes.
The trade group for the largest music labels, the Recording Industry Association
of America (RIAA), identified at the request of AP the 25 universities that received
the most copyright complaints it sent so far this school year. The trade group long
has pressured schools to act more aggressively against online pirates on campus.
"It's something we feel we have to do," RIAA President Carey Sherman said. "We
have to let people know that if they engage in this activity, they are not anonymous."
The top five schools are Ohio, Purdue, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University
of Tennessee, and University of South Carolina. The RIAA complained about nearly 15,000
students at those 25 universities, nearly triple the number for the previous school year.
"They're trying to make a statement," said Randall Hall, who polices computers
at Michigan State University, seventh on the list with 753 complaints. Michigan State
received 432 such complaints in December alone, when students only attended classes
for half the month.
Hall meets personally with students caught twice and forces them to watch an eight-minute
anti-piracy DVD produced by the RIAA. A third-time offender can be suspended for a semester.
"I get the whole spectrum of excuses," Hall said. "The most common answer I get
is, 'All my friends are doing this. Why did I get caught?'"
At the University of Massachusetts at Amherst--which received 897 complaints, sixth on
the list of the 25 colleges receiving the most--first- and second-time offenders receive
escalating warnings about piracy. After a third complaint, the school unplugs a student's
internet connection and sends the case to a dean for additional punishment.
The music group said each university should set its own penalties for stealing
songs and said campuses are rife with such thefts. "When we look at the problem, it's
particularly acute in the college context," RIAA chief executive Mitch Bainwol said.
The music group said popular file-sharing software programs it has targeted at
schools include AresWarez, BitTorrent, eDonkey, and other programs that operate on
the Gnutella and FastTrack services.
Under federal law, universities that receive complaints about students illegally
distributing copyrighted songs generally must act to stop repeat offenders, or else
the schools can be sued. The entertainment industry typically can identify a student
only by his or her numerical internet address and must rely on the school to correlate
that information to trace a person's real-world identity.
Some schools aggressively warn students after they receive complaints. Others
don't. Purdue, which has received 1,068 complaints so far this year but only 37 in
2006, said it rarely even notifies students accused by the RIAA, because it's too
much trouble to track down alleged offenders. Purdue said its students aren't repeat
offenders.
"In a sense, the [complaint] letter is asking us to pursue an investigation,
and as the service provider, we don't see that as our role," spokesman Steve Tally
said. "We are a leading technology school, with thousands and thousands of curious
and talented technology students."
To stop students from pirating music, dozens of colleges and universities have
tried providing free or subsidized access to legal subscription services over
campus networks in the past few years. Despite the efforts of schools and universities
to change students' downloading habits, however, executives from the music and movie
industries say the illegal sharing of copyright-protected digital media is still
rampant on campuses nationwide.
Legal services typically offer more than a million tracks, but they limit how and
where the songs can be heard--often requiring that students stay at their desks. Getting
songs to transfer to digital players costs extra, and tracks might not work with all
gadgets, such as Apple's popular iPod.
Link:
Recording Industry Association of America
http://www.riaa.com
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