by A. John Garcia
Daily Lobo
Arguments and controversy have arisen recently over what music industry officials are calling "piracy," involving Internet users downloading copyrighted material by using peer-to-peer service providers.
The activity, known as "file sharing," sparked the Recording Industry Association of America to start gathering evidence against individuals to prepare lawsuits against those who offer "substantial amounts" of copyrighted music online, raising the possibility of college students being sued by the industry.
Cary Sherman, president and general counsel for the association said, "The law is clear and the message to those who are distributing substantial quantities of music online should be equally clear: this activity is illegal; you are not anonymous when you do it; and engaging in it can have real consequences."
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Sherman said his group is not singling out college students, but is seeking all persons distributing large amounts of copyrighted music.
"Could that include college students?" Sherman asked. "Sure."
The controversy began with the 1999 emergence of Napster, a file-swapping brainstorm that allowed computer users to download free music files.
Now, computer users can access Web sites such as Kazaa, Music City or Grokster to download files, an action some in the industry equate to theft.
"People who wouldn't dream of shoplifting a CD at Tower Records think nothing of downloading the contents of that same CD in the privacy of their own homes using an MP3 file," Sherman said.
The RIAA has issued about 1,000 subpoenas to universities around the U.S., seeking the names of students participating in file sharing. In April, the company sued four college students, accusing them of operating illegal file-sharing programs on campus networks. The lawsuits were settled out of court, with the students agreeing to pay between $12,000 and $17,500 to the music industry over the next several years. The students also agreed to shut down their file-sharing programs.
At UNM, security measures are in place that can identify the port that is running a file-sharing program through an Internet Provider trail.
"We try to preserve the network for certain kind of use that is primarily academic," said Jeff Gassaway, the Security Administrator at CIRT. He said UNM does not act on behalf of copyright holders, but does monitor the network for running file-sharing programs.
"We have filters in place that prioritize traffic so that Web traffic can move about and not be impaired by someone doing a whole lot of file transfers," Gassaway added. "It is not so much file type as it is protocol application."
If file transfers fall within the parameters of the RIAA's investigators, they will notify CIRT that illegal file transferring has occurred and will subpoena the University to obtain the student's name in order to file a lawsuit.
"We want to educate students that they can be sued," said Linda Miller, associate director of CIRT. "We are going to do a massive information this fall that informs them that they can be sued; you can be severely financially hurt. We want to inform students, so that it doesn't happen to them."
CIRT can also pinpoint file-sharing activity in dorm rooms. If a student is caught, penalties vary depending on the severity of the activity.
When students sign up for an account, they agree to terms that cover the type of activity that UNM's network can be used for. The RIAA would inform CIRT that copyrighted file-sharing infringement activity occurred. CIRT would then notify the Dean of Students who the individual is. The Dean of Students takes over from there.
"We investigate to see if that student was using UNM to download copyrighted information," said Rob Burford, the Judicial Affairs Specialist at the Dean of Students Office. "It (the penalty) depends on the circumstances, it depends on if it was a one-time thing or if they had been doing it all along. Penalties vary from a warning to expulsion."
Karen, an art history major who refused to give her last name, said, " I like to hear new music, stuff that's been deleted or is no longer available."
