The University’s top lawyer said Wednesday the University is educating but not outing students who illegally download.

The University is, however, letting students out themselves to the Recording Industry Association of America to the tune of thousands of dollars.

And if the student does not come forward, the association can file an open records request to discover the offender because the University already has identified the violator.

“They need to understand their actions have legal ramifications,” Stephen Shewmaker, executive director of Legal Affairs, said Wednesday in a meeting in The Red & Black newsroom. “At this point, this is the best way to do it.”

Shewmaker said the University gives students an early warning before the association seeks them out. The reason the RIAA doesn’t send letters to students directly is because it knows only the IP address of violators.

The University is “reactionary” in educating students about illegal downloads, Shewmaker said – informing students of their options only after they have violated copyrights and received notification from the RIAA.

So far, 150 students have received reprimands from the University for violations of the computer use agreement for copyright infringment. Of those 150, about 30 have also received settlement letters forwarded by the University from the RIAA.

In one case, Sara Wood, a sophomore from Cleveland, is paying $558 a month for six months as well as signing a formal reprimand for the University saying she would not do it again.

The University of Oregon ignored the RIAA’s similar requests to forward information and is fighting a subpoena. But in Georgia, the University’s stance is to compile the information before required.

“Many institutions cooperate because the threat of legislation poses … a more Draconian measure,” Shewmaker said when asked why the University complies when others do not. “As a conduit, we have a responsibility.”

Records request tells all

Since the University is a state institution, information connected with it is public information, available through an open records request. While the RIAA has not made an open records request for the names of illegal downloaders, the information is available once the notification process begins.

However, the University said it does not forward the information to the RIAA.

Not directly, anyway.

“We never give the students’ names until we receive a legal subpoena or open records request,” Shewmaker said. “We don’t wait for the settlement letters to come forward. It is a burden we would have to follow down the road anyway. We’re better off giving our students an early warning.”

Stan Gatewood, the chief information security officer at the University, said identifying information found by the University is protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

“All information we mine stays in-house,” he said. “We’re following the letter of the law and protecting [the students].”

But the act just protects student information such as grades and finances. Information involving computer activity on a University server is not protected. The Red & Black obtained documents that included students names, e-mails, letters and resolutions involving illegal downloads in almost 150 cases after making an open records request last week.

Who are you?

Several departments play a part in identifying the users the RIAA said violated copyrights.

Barbara White, associate provost of EITS business services, receives the first contact – a notice stating the Digitial Millennium Copyright Act has been violated. Katheryn Jarvis Coggon of Holme Roberts & Owen, RIAA’s counsel, sends an e-mail to the University stating a subscriber has violated copyright laws by illegally uploading and downloading copyrighted material. The letters are sent with hopes of settling the claim before a lawsuit is filed, according to the e-mail.

“Specifically, we will seek to serve a subpoena on you that will request documents that identify the name, current addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and Media Access Control address of the subscriber,” Coggon writes. She then requests the University preserve identifying information.

“We have an obligation to let students know we have received a notice. We do not have an obligation to notify RIAA,” White said.

After receiving the notification from the RIAA, EITS checks whether the IP address is registered to the University, according to a document outlining the process compiled by White and Shewmaker.

“What we basically do is marry the IP to the MyID and look up a person’s name,” Gatewood said.

When asked whether the RIAA knows the identity of the person when they send letters to the University, Gatewood said RIAA basically does not. He said his department has to match up the IP exactly with the student.

“They have no idea whatsoever who that person is,” Gatewood said. “We don’t just want to go on blind faith. We have to go much deeper than that.”

Gatewood said the software students use tells on them if they are illegally downloading.

“Essentially EITS find the MyID and can get down to the name but that’s it,” he said.

There are two people in EITS working on the identification process, Rayid Tartir and Larry Samborn.

After EITS discovers the violator’s name, the case is forwarded.

Sometimes the University receives pre-litigation letters from the RIAA – sent to colleges and universities nationwide in a series of waves – 10 so far. The RIAA informs the school which IP addresses violated their copyrights.

This month, the process was changed in order to streamline, White said. After matching the name and IP, it is forwarded to the Office of Legal Affairs and the Office of Judicial Programs who then contact the student about the violation.

Information forwarded to the Office of Judicial Programs deals with the violation of the computer use policy. Once it receives the student’s name, the office contacts the student and arranges a meeting. At this time, the student is given a letter written from the RIAA.

“We’re an educational/remedial process,” Brandon Frye, assistant dean of students at the Office of Judicial Programs, said.

Many of the cases going through the Office of Judicial Programs are settled in informal resolutions.

“Every complaint we’ve gotten also has a letter from RIAA,” Frye said.

In the letter to students, the RIAA said it hopes to settle the claims within 20 days and offers a “significantly reduced amount” for settlement. The amount for pre-litigation settlement averages between $3,000 and $5,000 but there is no Golden Rule, according to a RIAA representative.

During the meeting with the Office of Judicial Programs, the student may provide additional information on the case. The assigned officer reviews the information to determine whether no action, a formal or informal resolution will be the next step.

So far, 18 informal resolutions have gone through the office and those students received letters from the RIAA. Also in informal resolution, but not notified by the RIAA, are 127 other students. These students violated the computer use policy by having information the copyright owner did not give permission to distribute.

The beat goes on

The RIAA’s focus on colleges and universities has concentrated on informing students that downloading music without paying is illegal. “This is an ongoing process,” the RIAA representative said.

“We’re on their radar screen,” White said of attention the RIAA is giving the University. “Once you get on there…”

With the third wave of letters from the RIAA sent to the University last week, illegal downloaders are warned.