RIAA threatens to sue four undergrads

Four Princeton undergraduates are among the hundreds of college students facing a new wave of legal action from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which on Nov. 15 sent pre-litigation settlement letters to more than a dozen colleges and universities across the country.

The University received 10 letters from the RIAA, University Communications Director Lauren Robinson-Brown '85 said in an email. The RIAA notified the University of computer addresses "under suspicion," not all of which belong to current students, she said. The letters were then passed on to four undergraduates, three of whom received advance warning that the letters were pending. The Daily Princetonian has not yet identified those students.

"For security purposes," Robinson-Brown added, "we don't disclose many details related to the notifications, but we do feel it is pertinent to confirm for you the number of students who have been accused by the RIAA of copyright infringement as [the 'Prince's'] coverage helps students realize the serious nature of these offenses. Also, it is possible that one student may receive more than one letter."

In all, the RIAA sent 417 letters earlier this month on behalf of its member music companies to people it believes to be illegally sharing copyrighted music online.

Letters were sent to officials at 16 colleges and universities, including Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Penn, Brown and Dartmouth. Violators could be fined up to $150,000 per copyrighted work infringed, though most charged in the past have settled out of court, generally agreeing to pay the RIAA between $3,000 and $5,000.

The letters allege significant abuse of campus computer networks for the purpose of copyright infringement. The letters give students the opportunity to resolve infringement claims at a discounted rate before the RIAA files a formal lawsuit. Each letter informs the universities of an upcoming legal action against a member of their community and asks that administrators send the letter to the appropriate network user.

Jonathan Lamy, the RIAA's senior vice president for communications, said in a statement that the group had no choice but to hold individuals responsible for ignoring the law.

"No legitimate offering, no matter how compelling, can reach its full potential when competing with free in an environment where people feel comfortable stealing music with impunity," he said. "Bringing legal actions against individual file traffickers, especially students, is our last preference but it's a necessary one given the continuing prevalence of music theft on college campuses."

The letters are the latest move in an ever-expanding effort to curb illegal downloads at institutions across the country. The RIAA maintains that piracy is less common on campuses where students are educated on network use and enforcement policies and are offered affordable and legal alternatives to access music.

The RIAA cited research that found college students accounted for more than 1.3 billion illegal music downloads in 2006. A 2006 survey by Student Monitor found that more than half of college students confessed to having downloaded music and movies illegally.

Threats of legal action by the RIAA against Princeton students date back almost half a decade. In April 2003, the group filed a lawsuit against Daniel Peng '05, alleging that he illegally shared copyrighted music from his computer and facilitated filesharing of copyrighted music through his website, wake.princeton.edu. Peng settled the suit out of court one month later for $15,000, while denying any wrongdoing.

At the time, the RIAA's Senior Vice President for Legal and Business Affairs Matt Oppenheim said the RIAA never expected to get the billions of dollars implied by the initial filing. Instead, it wanted to send a message to people operating similar filesharing networks that the RIAA is prepared to enforce its rights.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

"Many universities have started to look at this issue and educate their students about what they need to do," Oppenheim told the 'Prince' in May 2003. "There are a few holdouts and a few disbelievers and we'll obviously have to deal with them."

In 2005, the RIAA filed copyright infringement lawsuits against 30 Princeton students for illegally downloading music online as part of a campaign against the practice that included suits against hundreds of students nationwide.

In a March 2005 email to the 'Prince,' Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Hilary Herbold said that when the University receives a letter from the RIAA, it passes the document along to the student at fault as well as to a staff member with disciplinary oversight of that student. In addition to fulfilling all legal requirements of the complaint or lawsuit, the student must also go through University disciplinary proceedings.

If the student has no prior disciplinary warnings and is unable to convince administrators that the activities in question do not constitute copyright violation, he or she will usually receive a Dean's Warning, Herbold said. With prior history, students receive a minimum of three months' probation, which can increase in duration for particularly egregious offenses.

The University is not itself a party to the lawsuits, but as the service provider for those internet users connecting from campus, it is the designated recipient of subpoenas to identify the University community members.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a copyright law intended to protect intellectual property rights extending to digital media files, compels the University to comply with subpoenas and other legal requests submitted by the RIAA in conjunction with accusations of illegal downloading.