The Red and Black

Students who get these letters should stay in touch with EITS for possible further advice. The RIAA is not always correct in its accusations.

While the recording industry has decided that it is illegal for someone to share his personal music collection with friends, does that make them right? The person who originally purchased the music is the one who is "guilty" if there is such a thing as guilt in this matter. The industry and the artists WANT the public to hear and enjoy their music. If there is some enterprising attorney and anyone with enough money I believe that any damages could be proven to be ONLY the amount that the industry or artist would lose over each song, NOT a $3,000 flat fee nor some exorbitant amount which will be determined by a jury NOT of the peers of the defendants. If a case should go to trial the jury should consist of students who might be in the same position as the defendant(s) - THAT would be a jury of peers which is guaranteed in any trial in this country. I am NOT defending those who are downloading these songs, but I do think the greed of the recording industry is a factor in these cases, too. If I go to a friend's house and he allows me to copy a song or several songs from his collection, am I in violation, too? Is he? This is a never ending quest for money, money, money. How can the recording industry prove an amount which it has lost because of these downloads? Most students don't have $3,000 to "settle" these cases. Surely they should NOT be downloading, but they aren't downloading from industry sites for the most part. Their online "friends" are sharing.
Are those people also being held responsible?
We have become so litigious in this country that it has become ridiculous.

Fuck the RIAA

CoastalDawg is absolutely right, so I won't repeat any of his points.

In this play, The University chumpishly accepts its role as Accomplice and Thoughtslave to the Man (played by the RIAA). The story turns, however, when propaganda is no longer swallowed whole. Scapegoating ceases and...

[Enter Reasonable Man]

Reasonable Man: "That's free enterprise, friends: freedom to gamble, freedom to lose. And the great thing -- the truly democratic thing about it -- is that you don't even have to be a player to lose."

"North Carolina State University and the University of Maine, who refused to pass the letters on"

But not UGA! Noooooo-UGA with its free speech zones, what can you expect but Big Brother at UGA?

Am I understanding correctly that the actual letters were sent to the University of Georgia to be passed on to students? If that is correct, that in itself makes UGA an agent for the recording industry. The university, in my opinion, has assumed the position that those students are guilty as charged. What has happened to "innocent until proven guilty"? It is NOT the job of the university to "pass along" letters accusing students of "illegally" downloading music. I'm totally surprised that someone with the money to hire a team of attorneys has not made the industry prove that they have been harmed to the extent of $3,000 or more in ANY case. How many albums must be sold for the industry and/or artist to make a profit of $3,000? This is becoming more and more ridiculous with each passing day. Like I said before, juries are SUPPOSED to consist of "peers", those equal in position and status to the accused. Whenever that starts to occur, there will be findings in the favor of the accused, not the accuser. A further tool would be the boycott of those companies and artists who sue under these conditions as long as they hold all the marbles. Next I suppose we'll have agents inside our homes looking at our personal audio and video recordings,which by the way, are copyrighted materials. If we should share these with a friend are we guilty of some "crime"? It is time for these companies to PROVE in court that they've been "damaged" in some way. Stop the downloads, but also stop the ridiculous attempt to make more money than the original recording would ever bring in.

There's been a fair bit of nonsense here from other commenters.

It has always been illegal to buy a copyrighted record or book and distribute copies to your "friends." That's what copyright law is all about. If you don't know what copyright is, perhaps you've been asleep since 1789 or so.

Modern file-sharing technology makes it easy to distribute thousands of copies to total strangers. That's different from just making one or two cassette tapes for friends. That's why the RIAA is taking action now.

Since the 1990s, the University's computer usage regulations have explicitly required you to obey copyright laws. Before that, it had already been the law of the land for about 200 years. The University is not a sanctuary where the laws of the United States don't apply.

Regarding the University's decision to pass the letters along to students, I wasn't involved in the process, but remember that UGa is state government, and its actions are pinned down by law to a greater extent than a private college.

By passing the letters along, UGa does not necessarily endorse them. I would suggest that every student who gets one of the letters should involve the University in the follow-up process. UGa would like to know whether or not the accusations are well-founded.

North Carolina State University and the University of Maine are also state universities, not private.

These comments are turning really negative against the University for this and I think that might be a little unfair to the University.

The letters are made to be passed on by internet service providers (this would include private companies). However, for students living on campus their internet service provider is the University itself.

The law grants ISPs protection from liability from content transferred from its subscribers. In the end this is good, because it allows ISPs to offer privacy protection policies and not have to "police" the content subscribers transfer and infringe on the privacy of those not doing anything illegal.

With that said whenever content is transferred a request is sent to a digital address that tells servers and ISPs where to send and route the information. This means if you download or upload something (in this case illegal content). This digital address can be tracked and recorded by copyright holders using P2P networks. When you know the address you can find out what network or ISP that address belongs to (UGA's for example).

The record company can have the ISP pass on a letter where a settlement can be made out of court. The alternative to this would be subpoenaing the ISP (University) and sue the subscriber(student) in court. If you are guilty you could have to pay amounts much larger and be liable for legal fees the record company faced in taking the lawsuit to court.

With that said.....like it or not... it is not the University's fault. It is the end-users fault (if they did infringe on copyrights) and the alternative of subpoenaing the university and being sued is much worse than the settlement letter.

If I went to UNC or UW-Madison I would hate to think that I might be sued later because the school refused to pass along these letters.

Additionally, by asking an ISP to pass the letter the record company can save money in legal fees, which could make the settlement amount substantially less than if they incurred the cost of subpoenas and lawsuits, which would increase the amount of liability to the subscriber.

Many of these universities are passing these letters along since they feel it is in the student's best interest. Additionally, passing the letter to the user does not violate the end-users privacy. The University does not have to pass on information to the RIAA, record companies, or their legal staff when they simply pass on the letter as a third party.

At least with the University passing on these letters the accused students will know their options and can make a choice, whether they like their situation or not. The alternative can be much worse.

If you do not like the scare tactics trying to curb file-sharing... at least whine about the RIAA... it is not the University of Georgia initiating them, but simply saying it is in the best interest of their students if they pass along the letter allowing them to make a choice before being named in a lawsuit.