Amid a continuing campaign by the Recording Industry Association of America to crack down on Internet users suspected of illegal file sharing, two students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology unveiled yesterday a new system to legally distribute music to students and faculty on campus.
The Library Access to Music Project uses the campus television cable system to broadcast music to listeners, who can go online and sign up to customize the playlist on any one of 16 available music channels. Currently musical selections are available from over 3,500 CDs by classical and popular artists such as the Beatles, Britney Spears, Coldplay and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Unlike digital music distribution systems over the Internet, such as iTunes and Rhapsody, LAMP broadcasts over an analog medium and is therefore subject to less restrictive copyright laws similar to those that govern radio transmissions, according to an MIT press release.
The project cost approximately $35,000, or 60 cents per student, and was funded by iCampus, a collaboration between MIT and Microsoft Research. The majority of the cost, $25,000, went toward acquiring the music and licenses necessary for distribution. The physical equipment that runs the system was purchased off the shelf for $10,000.
The students who designed the project are releasing the source code royalty-free so that other colleges and even local communities could implement similar systems.
Until then, other institutions are exploring new ways of dealing with illegal file sharing.
Over the summer, the Board of Visitors at the Virginia Military Institute recommended that their Honor Council look into file sharing as a possible violation of the student honor code, which would result in expulsion.
The council currently is reviewing the issue and is expected to make a decision by the end of the year, VMI spokesperson Ken White said.
Recently, as part of its normal system maintenance, the Information Technology department at VMI also has installed a controlling system to disable many common forms of file sharing, which has been very effective, White added.
"File sharing slows down the system enough that it affects students," he said. "It's all but taken care of any potential violations."
If the council were to adopt such a resolution, White said he did not expect many cases would be brought up as a result.
"This is a tough one to police," he said. "It would be extremely rare for a student to be charged for downloading music over the school network."
Back home, the University also applies a single sanction to students convicted of an Honor offense, which could include illegal file sharing, Honor Committee Chair Carey Mignerey said.
"The Honor Committee is of the position that file sharing could be considered an Honor offense as a form of stealing," he said. "The system is already equipped to deal with these situations."
Even if a student were convicted of illegally acquiring copyrighted material over the Internet, the jury would have to decide that it was a significant offense to warrant expulsion, Mignerey said.
"Seriousness would have to be established by a case-specific student jury," he said.
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