Illegal file sharing causes campus concerns

Marcella Veneziale A&E Editor

Five hundred students were randomly selected for a survey on illegal downloading. Ninety-six responded.

1. Have you ever illegally downloaded music?
Yes 85.4%
No 14.6%

2. If so, which programs did you use?
OurTunes/MyTunes Redux 46.2%
Vassar Hub 22.4%
Kazaa/Kazaa Lite 16.25%
Other 15.15%

3. If not, what is your reasoning?
Morally Wrong 37.5%
Other 62.5%

4. Has news of students being prosecuted for downloading at other schools deterred you?
Yes 30.9%
No 69.1%

Ever since 25 New York University students were targeted by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for illegally sharing and downloading music and films, NYU students have been on edge. The events at NYU were not isolated; students at Princeton, Harvard, MIT, Boston College, Syracuse University, and Boston University, just to name a few, have been targeted by the RIAA, and some students have had to face juries for their actions.

The proliferation of illegal file sharing has been due in part to the nature of colleges’ Internet services. Most provide high speed Internet access, which makes downloading more efficient. The network used at NYU, an Internet2 (i2) hub, makes it possible to transfer a movie in less than five minutes and a song in less than 20 seconds. This obviously increases the number of files that can be shared. Considering that the penalty for possession of an illegally downloaded file can reach $150,000 per item, it is no wonder that college administrations are alarmed at the recent events.

Vassar’s Dean of Students D.B. Brown stated that illegal file sharing on campus “is an issue,” but that administration “doesn’t have lots of complaints” from the RIAA, The Motion Picture Association, and similar groups. “There is no reason to think that we will show up on that list [of targeted schools].” Nationwide, 20 colleges and universities use an i2 hub, but Vassar does not.

Methods of handling these issues differ from school to school. At Vassar, the first step is immediate termination of Internet service. When a student who has been illegally downloading reports to Computing and Information Services after Internet service is cut off, they are told the reason for the termination. The school files an internal sanction and when the problem is resolved, the outside association that brought up the complaint is notified and Internet service is restored.

Campus officials are not actively cracking down on illegal downloads, but are “responding complaint by complaint,” according to Brown, as has been the procedure in the past. However, the recording industries and associations devoted to protecting copyrights have recently taken a stricter stance on illegal file-sharing.

The 25 NYU students who could potentially face court dates have only been identified by their Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Here at Vassar, RIAA has only asked for students’ IP addresses and not their names. The RIAA was unsuccessful in shutting down providers of file sharing software, and has targeted individuals as a last resort. However, prosecuting less than 100 students out of the millions of college students nationwide doesn’t seem to have made a great difference in students’ Internet activities.

Vassar students have yet to be officially charged with violating copyright laws and have only faced consequences from the College. If students were officially charged by an outside group Brown said that the College “wouldn’t shield them from legal responsibility.” The student would be expected to assume his own legal responsibility and hire outside legal aid.

In England, where copyright laws are more stringent, illegal downloading (especially of movies and television series) is often actively pursued and prosecuted by government officials. Upon obtaining a warrant, police can enter the home of a person accused of violating copyright laws and confiscate his or her computer. These measures are more drastic due to the fact that the wider availability of broadband Internet services has led to the loss of 45 million pounds from the country’s video industry, according to BBC News.

Although most students are aware of the consequences of downloading illegally, most do it anyway. Brown noted that it is “difficult [for students] to overcome the culture” of Internet downloading. If anything, students have become savvier in bending the rules and ensuring that they are not caught. Penalties for illegally sharing files are generally more stringent for the person whose files are distributed, but this may be because they are easier to catch. Internet providers that knowingly facilitate illegal downloading are held as culpable as students. Several years ago, Napster was the most notorious provider of file sharing services, and was finally shut down only to re-open as a legal service whose users must now purchase their media of choice. This hardly solved the problem of illegal downloading, however, as a plethora of new services sprang up, including Morpheus, Ares, Grokster, OurTunes, Kazaa, and Limewire. Coupled with the popularity of file sharing, it is unsurprising how much trouble agencies have had in preventing illegal downloading.

Just as the popularity of downloading spread by word of mouth, minimizing the amount of illegal file sharing will probably be through the same means. Brown commented that an important way to raise awareness about the situation is to “get students to talk with friends about it.” Whatever the case, it is certain that this will continue to be an issue on college campuses nationwide.