As of March 1, 180 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) infringement complaints had been filed with the University this school year. The number is almost equal to the 187 complaints filed for the entire 2002-03 school year and more than double the 82 complaints filed as of the same date last year.
Though public attention focuses on the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and illegal sharing of music files, the DMCA complaints come from other industries as well.
Rita Saltz, director of information services at OIT, said of all complaints filed, the RIAA complaints comprise roughly 35 percent; the complaints from film and television studios and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) are roughly 56 percent; and those from software and game firms are about 9 percent.
Computers owned by undergraduate are involved in 81 percent of the complaints this year.
"The increase in complaints could reflect an increase in illegal file-sharing or increased aggressive pursuit of infringers by the industry, or both," Saltz said.
Anand Atreya '07 does not believe the RIAA's increased activity will significantly affect peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing among students. Atreya said P2P systems provide users with a way to discover new music that is difficult to replace with other venues such as listening kiosks in music stores.
"Many people who would be scared by the subpoenas have already stopped sharing, and those that are left have figured out ways to protect themselves from the RIAA," Atreya said.
Breach of copyright by electronic means or other methods has been a violation of University policy for many years and certainly long before the passage of the DMCA.
"University policy has not changed in that regard since I came to Princeton in 1985," Saltz said.
This academic year, however, the University introduced a new disciplinary system to send a stronger message and inflict harsher punishments regarding illegal file sharing, said Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Hilary Herbold.
Under the system, a first offense constitutes a Dean's warning; a second offense carries the penalty of six months of probation; and a third violation results in nine months to one year of probation and loss of network privileges for the student.
"I definitely downloaded much more music and movies as a freshman, but I think that is more a function of the University policies than the RIAA," Jason Chu '04 said.
For Chu, the University problem hits closer to home than the RIAA actions. "I have heard of friends that have been placed on University probation for downloading-related infractions," he said.
Because many students do not have clear ideas as to what represents a University infraction with respect to the downloading and sharing of music, movies and other media, Saltz and Clayton Marsh '85, a lawyer in the University general counsel's office, have been holding information sessions and discussions in the residential colleges with support from each college's director of studies.
Saltz said in many instances, students who own CDs or DVDs have copied the files to their computers without realizing that the file-sharing software they use makes those files available to others on the Internet, thereby violating copyright laws.
"Some students don't even seem to understand that their computers can continue to be active on the Internet without anyone sitting at the keyboard," Saltz said.
Additionally, many students buy into what Saltz calls "Internet file-sharing mythology." Unless the studio that produced a film on a DVD or an episode of a television program offers someone a copy from their own site, any copy from the Internet is being offered illegally.
Thus, even if a student owns a movie or TV-series DVD, downloading an Internet copy is illegal.
"Many students use peer-to-peer file sharing applications without understanding how it works, but think it's OK to do so because Kazaa is taking care of them," Saltz said. "That alone puts them at risk."
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