Hello, everyone–

Since last week’s FAQ on peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, we’ve gotten some new information. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is beginning a crackdown on illegal file sharing at universities, and we’d like to pass that warning along to you, as well as tell you about an alternative source of free and legal music for students.

Who is the RIAA, anyway?

The Recording Industry Association of America is a group that includes all of the major music recording companies, representing well over a thousand recording labels. In recent years they have strongly focused on preventing illegal distribution of music, and one result of this is lawsuits against people found to be illegally sharing copyrighted music through peer-to-peer software. You can see their website at http://www.riaa.com/. Note that a similar organization, the Motion Picture Association of America, fills the same role for the movie industry, and has been suing people who illegally share movies.

So what exactly does this “crackdown” involve?

We have been warned by the state Attorney General’s office that the RIAA is beginning an extensive new program of lawsuits targeting students. They intend to pursue hundreds of cases per month nationwide. You can read more about this program on the RIAA website, and we are also making available a copy of an explanatory letter sent to all university presidents; find it at https://wou.edu/ucs/faq/documents/RIAA_University_ltr.pdf. As part of this program, students found illegally sharing music will be offered a chance to pay a settlement fee to avoid the lawsuit.

How does that settlement work?

As mentioned in the previous P2P FAQ, the RIAA will not know exactly who has been sharing their copyrighted files, but they will be able to track the illegal activity to WOU’s network and get the IP address of the computer from which the files are shared. Under their old policies, they would then send us a takedown notice, and we would act on it because WOU as a whole could be sued if we did not.

But now these warnings will also come with a pre-lawsuit letter; you can see an example at https://wou.edu/ucs/faq/documents/RIAA_pre_lawsuit_ltr.pdf. (Note that the example letter was received at another institution; WOU has not yet received any of these letters, but believe it is only a matter of time until we do.) We will forward this letter to the individual who owns the computer whose address is given in the takedown notice. If that person chooses to accept the settlement offer, they must contact the RIAA as stated in the letter, and will be given further instructions. We will not give any student’s identity to the RIAA unless legally compelled, but this may well happen if a lawsuit is filed.

If someone gets one of these letters, should they accept the settlement offer?

We cannot make a recommendation on this matter, other than that the recipient of the letter should consult an attorney, or at least educate themselves as much as possible, before deciding. Please be aware that there is a lot of contradictory information about RIAA file sharing lawsuits, and many sources are biased one way or another, so it is difficult to find reliable advice online. Wikipedia’s entry on the RIAA at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIAA is a good starting point. Whether or not a student accepts the settlement offer, WOU will continue to follow our current judicial policy, including temporarily disconnecting that student’s residence hall network access.

You said something about a new source of free and legal music?

We are looking into a program called Ruckus, which offers a catalog of over two million songs free to any current student with a valid .edu email address. They make money though advertisements, and by charging fees for additional services and to non-student users. You can take a look at them yourself at http://www.ruckus.com. We are investigating the possibility of getting a local server for their catalog, which will make download times faster and grant access to some additional material such as movies, but any student can use their service even if WOU does not make such a deal with the company.

That’s all for this week. Please feel free to send me any questions about this topic, or anything else you’d like to see addressed in an FAQ, at faq@wou.edu.

Thanks once again for your time and attention,

—-Ron