RIAA plans suit against another student

Less than six months after the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) brought copyright infringement lawsuits against 26 University students, it now appears that yet another student will soon be sued.

As part of its ongoing campaign to curb illegal file-sharing on college campuses, the music industry trade group plans to subpoena the University for information on a student allegedly engaged in music piracy, OIT senior policy adviser Rita Saltz said Monday.

Saltz refused to indicate whether the targeted individual is a graduate or undergraduate student, but did say that the person has been notified.

RIAA spokesperson Jenni Engebretsen said she would not comment on any future or potential litigation.

The University received the notice from the RIAA Sept. 13, though it is not known when the group will pursue legal action, according to Saltz.

"The RIAA does give us the courtesy of letting us know they will be [serving a subpoena]," she said. "The University then has permission to tell that person that a subpoena has been sought and to give them some time to figure out what to do."

An RIAA lawsuit against a Princeton student typically begins with the group filing a "John Doe" lawsuit — so named because it mentions only the targeted student's IP address — in local court. The RIAA then waits for the court to issue a subpoena before it approaches the University and requests the identity of the student implicated in the case.

Though under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act violators can be fined up to $150,000 per copyrighted work infringed, students typically settle out of court with the RIAA for around $3,000 to $5,000 or more, depending on the circumstances of their cases.

"No case has gone to trial, to date, out of any of our lawsuits," Engebretsen said.

Out of the 29 total lawsuits filed against Princeton students by the RIAA, 21 of the cases have already been settled, with the others still in various stages of the litigation process, Engebretsen said.

A total of 405 students at 18 colleges nationwide were sued by the RIAA last April as the group took aim at those downloading music on Internet2, a high-powered research network operated by 207 universities and affiliated institutions nationwide.

While the University has taken numerous steps to discourage file-sharing on campus, some students don't seem to be getting the message, Saltz said.

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"There are some who know what they're doing and, just like speeders on the highway, think they won't be caught," she said.

Others, though, simply don't understand the dangers involved, Saltz said.

"One of the very sad things for me is seeing how many people still seem to be unaware of the risks, especially after all of the publicity over the suits," she said. "They don't seem to understand that they have to protect [their music] from being shared with others."

"It is so terribly naive and so sad, because you can get in trouble without even knowing what you're doing," Saltz added.

Since September 2003, the RIAA has filed more than 14,000 copyright infringement lawsuits, 880 of which have been directed at college students, Engebretsen said.

"College students are some of the most avid music fans, and the habits that they acquire now are likely to stay with them for life," she said. "For many college students that often have more time than money and a fast Internet connection, that can often be a recipe for a great deal of illegal downloading."

Asked whether the RIAA will continue to file lawsuits as long as music piracy persists on campuses, Engebretsen said, "The law is quite clear."

Saltz also said the situation was straightforward. "Do I suspect that we'll see more [lawsuits]? Sure. If people are sharing copyrighted material without authorization, I expect we'll see lawsuits continually," she said.

It's not just music, but all copyrighted material that students need to refrain from illegally sharing, Saltz said.

In a letter last spring to President Tilghman, Motion Picture Association of America 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. No lawsuits were filed, though.

"While the RIAA has done all of the lawsuits and subpoenas and gets the big press, the film and TV industry has been a sleeping dragon with regard to pursuing those things until very recently, and certainly I think our campus community needs to be aware of that," Saltz said.

Speaking at the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property last week, William J. Raduchel, chairman and CEO of legal digital music provider Ruckus Networks, encouraged universities to provide their students with a legitimate alternative to music piracy.

"No institution can police all of its students all of the time, but institutions that achieve meaningful adoption of legitimate services should be rewarded with immunity," he said. "At the same time, those institutions that knowingly tolerate widespread file-sharing on their networks should continue to be on notice that it must stop."

Saltz said that though the University remains committed to addressing illegal file-sharing on campus, there are lingering doubts about whether subscription services like Ruckus and Napster are successfully reducing music piracy.

Additionally, she said, "There's not a groundswell of interest in the University providing this."

As one University official told her recently, "Hey, USG has umpteen thousands of dollars; if students want it, let them subscribe instead of having their concert."