by Brandale Mills
Daily Lobo
The Recording Industry Association of America is suing 405 students at 18 universities for illegally downloading music.
Because of increasing music theft on a high-speed university network called Internet2, the association is taking action by filing copyright infringement lawsuits against students at schools such as Boston University, Carnegie Mellon University and Columbia University.
Internet2 is a network created for students at colleges and universities for academic purposes. Because downloading from Internet2 is fast, students are abusing this system to steal copyrighted songs, said Cary Sherman, president of the association.
Sherman said in an online press conference the organization has to act on illegal actions before things get out of hand.
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"By getting the message out early, we're hoping we can keep Internet2 from suffering the same fate that the Internet suffered with the explosive growth of illegal file-sharing," he said.
By targeting universities and students with extreme violations, the association is hoping to educate the public about the risks of illegal file-sharing.
"These lawsuits are getting a lot of publicity, which means that the message will get out far and wide," Sherman said.
The recording association does not profit from fighting copyright infringements, but it claims the money needs to be spent on educating users about downloading and its risks.
The students charged with direct copyright infringement can face a minimum penalty of $750 per work infringed, he said. Some cases are regularly settled for an average of $3,500 to $4,500, Sherman said.
Ella Dewalt, a UNM student, said she has no remorse for the recording association. She said musicians get a lot of money from consumers who buy CDs.
Sherman said the association has not calculated the losses to the music industry because of file-sharing, but many variables are considered. Everyone from CD manufacturers to background musicians are affected by illegal downloading, he said.
Student Teryn Lamoreux said the association should file suits against providers of the files.
"They shouldn't sue the student if they're downloading and not sharing files. They should go after whoever it is provided by," he said.
The lawsuits will be filed today against the most extensive abusers.
Sherman said students being sued have circulated more than 1.5 million total files, including more than 930,000 songs.
