< Back | Home

Sophomore Imaad Rashied talks about his experience with the consequences of illegal downloading at a panel discussion at the Student Learning Center Wednesday.

Nelson Wells (right), a panelist from indie PR firm Team Clermont, reacts to a point made by the University's Assistant to the President Matt Winston.

Panel discourages media piracy

Artist parallels downloading to theft

By: COURTNEY SMITH

Posted: 3/26/08

The University administration is not "out to get" students who illegally download music and movies off the Internet, an administrator said Tuesday.

Matt Winston, assistant to the University president, spoke at "Face The Music," a panel discussion about digital media downloading.

The discussion was part of the "Do It Legally. ReThink Your Remix" campaign sponsored by the UGA Committee on Digital Media Downloading.

"The University has become a target for the record industry," Winston said. "The institution now has a Congressional obligation to be the stewards of the technological highway we have built."

Winston explained the University has resisted the Recording Industry Association of America's demands that computers found illegally downloading media be matched to students' names and phone numbers.

Instead of forfeiting information, the University tries to protect the students, faculty and staff who are discovered illegally downloading music by contacting the people and telling them they are required to contact the RIAA, he said.

"We really want the individual to take responsibility," Winston said.

The legal aspect of downloading was discussed in the panel by William Lee, a journalism professor who teaches media law.

He acknowledged that although the University tries to protect illegal downloaders, Congress is not going to loosen the copyright laws in favor of music pirates.

"Congress is not really interested in people who don't vote, and there is no lobby for illegal downloaders," Lee said. "Honestly, you have a better shot with your crack ho."

Mike Dekle, a singer-songwriter who has had seven songs recorded by country music artist Kenny Rogers, took part in the panel discussion to represent how illegal downloading affects musicians and songwriters.

He related downloading music to "putting a pack of gum in your pocket at the grocery store."

"It is stealing," Dekle said. "Every aspiring musician in this town should be concerned about it."

Dekle was not the only panelist who brought the wider discussion locally to the Athens and University community.

Matthew Grayson, a senior news writer for The Red & Black, was featured on the panel. He was charged with presenting all of the legal music downloading options he researched for a Jan. 23 article about music downloading.

The panel also featured Chris Utah, director of subscriber acquisitions for the legal music downloading Web site Ruckus, and Imaad Rashied, a University student who received a pre-litigation letter from the RIAA and settled out of court.