Illegal downloads on the rise

In a move meant to launch a significantly enlarged campaign against digital music piracy on college campuses, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) issued letters Wednesday that informed 13 universities of upcoming legal action against a total of 400 students at those institutions.

While Princeton is not one of the universities targeted in the RIAA's latest round of anti-piracy litigation, all students are equally at risk for future penalties, as this is only the first in a series of such actions against copyright violators.

Even before the new plan was put into place, University officials had previously noted an increase in the number of complaint notices received from various media organizations, University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt '96 said. The rise came despite efforts to educate students about the pitfalls of breaking copyright law.

Though violations stem mainly from the use of filesharing software, with which students exchange music and movies for free and without licenses, complaints about unauthorized use of television and DVD film content have increased as well, Cliatt said.

Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which secures intellectual property rights that include digital media, the University is not directly liable for students' illegal activities. But it may be threatened with legal action if it does not expeditiously respond to complaints by forcing students to remove unauthorized content from their possession or if it does not cooperate with other legal requests.

Students, though, may be prosecuted under the act for monetary damages and a guarantee that they will refrain from violating the law in the future.

The University's main strategy in protecting students is prevention through education, Cliatt said, since many violations stem from a lack of awareness.

"Students in many cases don't realize that they're infringing copyright," Cliatt said. "This includes copyrighted material they have legally on their machine but then fail to protect from unauthorized access by other people."

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But some media industry executives disagree as to the innocence of the majority of the violators they pursue.

"Most students are now well aware that downloading a file that is copyrighted is illegal," said Dean Garfield '95, executive vice president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), an organization that has also sent complaints to the University about student violations.

"On college campuses you have students with limited resources but in some senses unlimited time," Garfield explained. "Those often combine into doing things that aren't necessarily legal or right."

The RIAA also stresses that ignorance is not an adequate defense and that all copyright violators should be held equally responsible for their actions.

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"Frankly we've found that students know that downloading from unauthorized [peer-to-peer] systems is illegal," RIAA president Cary Sherman said in an online interview. "By increasing the number of lawsuits, we're letting them know that the risk of getting caught is greater."

"That's also why we're bringing more lawsuits on a single college campus," he explained. For instance, the RIAA intends to either settle with or sue 50 separate students at Ohio University during this first round of mailings.

At Princeton, upon receiving notice of a violation, the University passes the document along to the student at fault as well as to a staff member with disciplinary oversight over that student, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Hilary Herbold said in an e-mail. The student must then submit to University disciplinary proceedings in addition to fulfilling all legal requirements of the complaint or lawsuit.

If the student has no prior disciplinary warnings and is unable convince administrators that the activities in question do not constitute copyright violation, he or she will usually receive a Dean's Warning, Herbold explained.

With a prior history, students will receive a minimum of three months' probation, which can increase in duration for particularly egregious offenses.

"In most cases, students acknowledge that they knowingly made copyrighted files available for sharing," Herbold said. "In some cases they say they were not aware they were doing so, or that someone else used their computer and downloaded the file in question."

Just as with the RIAA and MPAA, however, intent or awareness is not a defense in University officials' eyes. "Students are responsible for not sharing materials under copyright, knowingly or unknowingly," Herbold said.

After dealing with the University, the student will still have to deal with the terms of the lawsuit. Usually, violators are given a choice between paying a monetary settlement for a negotiated amount or fighting the allegations in court.

If convicted, a student can be fined up to $150,000 per copyrighted work infringed. Individuals have typically settled with the RIAA out of court for $3,000 to $5,000 or more, but these lesser amounts are still a large strain on college students' budgets.

Music, film and television studios say that they lose significant revenue through the free distribution of copyrighted materials and that students' violations of the DMCA amount to theft.

"The [music] industry is already facing devastating losses, and artists, songwriters [and] producers ... are leaving the industry in droves," Sherman said. "We hope that everyone who loves music will understand that musicians can't create [it] if they're not paid for their work. I'd hate to think that the next Red Hot Chili Peppers has to go back to waiting tables because they can't make a career in music."

Though the RIAA, MPAA and others defend their actions against students, some experts believe that their approach will not be productive since filesharing programs themselves are perfectly legal.

"Filesharing happens because it is easy and cheap to redistribute music and movies, and many people choose to do so despite the legal and ethical arguments against it," computer science professor Ed Felten said in an e-mail.

Because the physical process of exchanging digital information cannot be banned or adequately regulated, Felten added, "education is their best tactic, if they do it right."

Though education efforts have been a part of the media industries' efforts for several years, illegal filesharing and other means of copyright violation remain widespread. A study by the Intellectual Property Institute at the University of Richmond School of Law determined that over half of college students unlawfully download movies and music.

Felten, who was sued by the RIAA in 2001 over his research into anti-copying technology, also said that the tone of the organization's response could be lessening its effectiveness.

"They're often too confrontational," Felten said. "Their traditional education programs have had an authoritarian tone that turned off many students."

Sherman defended the RIAA's tactics as necessary to curb copyright violations effectively. "We need to do something NOW," he said. "We can't fail to take action to stem the serious problem we're facing."

The University also views an effective educational program as the best way to ensure that students do not engage in illegal copyright activity, Cliatt said. The Office of Information Technology (OIT) sends out a mailing to the freshman class before they arrive on campus outlining what actions constitute violations of the DMCA.

To ensure that the message sticks with students, OIT, residential colleges and other campus departments take other measures, as well. "The masters and deans of the colleges have constant outreach and training to make sure our students are aware of the law," Cliatt said.

Students are also reminded of the consequences of violating copyright laws. "Over the past three or four years we have tried very hard to make students aware of the potential consequences of illegal file-sharing," Herbold said. Methods include holding information sessions with students in which representatives from both OIT and the Office of Legal Counsel are present.

"When in doubt about their computer programs, students should consult the experts," Butler College director of studies Matthew Lazen said. "I recommend that students have our Residential Computing Consultants look at their computers."

About two weeks before the RIAA announced its new approach, Lazen sent an email to Butler students outlining both the legal and University policy aspects of copyright violations and the common misconceptions about both.

Despite the increased intensity of the RIAA's policy, the University will not alter its basic approach to the problem.

Addressing the issue "begins with education," Cliatt said. "We feel that our current campaign is aggressive along those lines."

At the RIAA, though, Sherman said he thinks education may not end up fully solving the problem.

"The sad truth is that traditional efforts to increase awareness ... have not been very effective at changing behavior," he said. "We've found that college students are more likely to change behavior if they are at risk of personal consequences than because something is illegal, or might hurt other people."

"It's sad that we have had to do this," Sherman added, "but it's been the most effective deterrent to date."