As part of its ongoing campaign to curb music piracy on college campuses, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed federal copyright lawsuits in April against 25 Princeton students accused of illegally trading music files on the high-speed Internet2 network.
A total of 405 students at 18 colleges nationwide were targeted for lawsuits.
The RIAA initially sent 39 "pre-subpoena" notices to Princeton in late March, but later announced it would sue no more than 25 students at any one college.
"There are 14 lucky students who will have escaped a lawsuit and 25 who will be sued," industry president Cary Sherman said in an April 12 conference call.
Those students facing litigation were notified by the University April 19.
The RIAA's lawsuits targeting Princeton students — collectively known as BMG Music et al. v. Does 1-25 — were filed in New Jersey District Court.
Since the suits were filed using the IP addresses of 25 "John Does," the individuals being sued were not identified by name. The RIAA subpoenaed the University April 18 to officially obtain the identities behind the addresses.
The University complied with the subpoena, releasing the students' identities on the deadline of May 9, University spokesman Eric Quinones said.
Though the penalties for copyright infringement are high — up to $150,000 for each act — lawsuits filed against file-sharing students are typically settled out of court for around $3,000.
One of the targeted students, Chad Smith '08, said in an interview just after the lawsuits were filed that he planned to settle with the RIAA, but wouldn't mind taking the matter to court.
"I'll probably end up [settling] because it's practical," he said. "But, in principle, if I had the time and money, I would love to pursue it."
New tactics
In this latest drive against campus file-sharing, the RIAA took aim at students downloading music on Internet2, a high-powered research network operated by 206 universities and affiliated institutions nationwide.
Sherman said Internet2 is a promising network that allows students and educators to work efficiently, but that it has been hijacked for illegal purposes.
"Internet2 is increasingly becoming the network of choice for students seeking to steal copyrighted songs and other works on a massive scale," Sherman said in the conference call. "We simply cannot allow Internet2 to become a zone of lawlessness where the normal rules don't apply."
The file-sharing program i2hub, which runs on the Internet2 network, was previously thought by many students to be safe from the industry's legal grasp.
"I2hub has, for some reason, been thought to be a safe zone to engage in illegal activity," Sherman said, "and what we wanted to do was puncture that misconception and let people know that when you are on the Internet, there's really no such thing as a safe zone for lawlessness."
Sherman refused to say how the RIAA gained access to the ostensibly private network.
Reaction from University
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Hilary Herbold said in April that the University is committed to addressing the problem of music piracy.
"Each of the residential colleges has offered programs on this issue, featuring members of OIT, our own legal counsel, and in some colleges also representatives from the recording industry," she said. "The deans and directors of studies also talk about it in their address to the freshmen each fall."
In announcing the latest round of lawsuits, RIAA president Sherman called on college administrators to address file-sharing on their campuses and encouraged them to explore technical measures such as filtering.
The University is open to the idea of a filtering mechanism, but such a device could not interfere with legitimate Internet activity, Quinones said.
"Generally, we're not aware of any effective technology that is out there that would block someone from sharing copyrighted material but that at the same time would allow legitimate material that would be used for academic work," Quinones said.
MPAA threat
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) also took steps recently to discourage file-sharing on campus.
In a letter to President Tilghman dated April 19, MPAA President Dan Glickman expressed concern about illegal movie downloading on the University network and attached a list of 66 IP addresses associated with alleged acts of infringement, according to Quinones.
The letter did not indicate whether the MPAA intends to sue any of the 66 individuals, but the targeted students were notified that any alleged infringement should cease, Quinones said.
At a May meeting of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC), OIT policy adviser Rita Saltz said the movie industry has sent similar infringement warnings — commonly referred to as "takedown notices" — to University administrators for several years.
Recalling her reaction to the news that the MPAA might follow the RIAA in suing students, Saltz said, "My heart and viscera just shrank and chilled."
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