Seven University students recently received pre-litigation settlement letters from the Recording Institute Association of America as part of its ongoing campaign against music piracy.
According to RIAA spokeswoman Cara Duckworth, illegal music downloading has caused losses of more than $300 million to music label companies and has led to a $3 billion decline in sales during a six year period. Because of these significant losses the music industry is actively monitoring peer-to-peer file sharing Web sites, Duckworth said.
"We have an investigation team that monitors illegal file sharing networks, and when they determine that someone is committing copyright infringement, they capture evidence that could be used as the basis of a lawsuit," Duckworth said.
Once the RIAA has evidence of illegal downloading, according to Duckworth, the organization sends pre-litigation letters to offenders' Internet service providers -- in this case, the University -- who then forward the mailings to the responsible parties.
"Should the University receive an RIAA 'pre-litigation letter,' the letter is, therefore, forwarded on to the alleged violator," said Shirley Payne, director for security coordination and policy at the University's Office of Information Technology and Communication.
Duckworth said investigation teams keep track of alleged offenders' Internet Protocol addresses, a representative sampling of illegally shared files and time stamps of relevant activities. She said the RIAA does not know the names of offenders, only IP addresses, when it issues pre-litigation letters.
"We offer students a discounted settlement and we ask them to contact us to discuss the matter," Duckworth said. "Settlement is determined on a case-by-case basis."
Payne said the University generally does not monitor or police its network for content.
"We have no way of knowing whether it was illegal or not," Payne said. "And we have no interest in doing content monitoring."
Duckworth said anyone who illegally downloads music is liable to receive an RIAA letter. When monitoring began in 2003, the RIAA established a minimum threshold for the receipt of such letters, she said, noting that the threshold has since been abandoned to further deter music piracy.
Duckworth said the pre-litigation letters, if left unresolved, can result in more substantial action.
"If we do not hear from [the offenders] in a certain amount of time, we move to file a John Doe lawsuit," Duckworth said. "At that point we move to subpoena the school for the student's identity."
If this occurs, Duckworth said, the RIAA contacts the student directly and demands a slightly higher rate.
"And if we do not hear from them in the second amount of time, we move to file a lawsuit in their name," Duckworth added.
Duckworth said the University was one of 58 colleges and universities whose students received RIAA letters.The names of the students have not been released. In total, 503 letters were sent out, and since 2003, 2,926 have been delivered. This is the seventh round of pre-litigation letters, Duckworth said.
The latest measures taken by the RIAA have also caused consternation among many University students. Some University students expressed their displeasure with the RIAA's actions.
According to second-year College student Thomas Lynch, "the recording industry should focus on making the purchasing of their product more appealing rather than focusing on scare tactics that don't work."
Second-year College student Corey Durrance echoed Lynch's sentiment, saying he believes the RIAA's actions border on preposterous.
"I think that it's ridiculous that they're doing this about something everyone at the University is doing," Durrance said. "I'm doing it right now."
Some other members of the University community, however, said they understood the RIAA's decision to pursue legal measures.
"It makes sense that they're being prosecuted," first-year Nursing student Suzie Welch said. "The artist isn't making any money"
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