A bit of background: as part of my day job, I write a weekly briefing of all our faculty, staff and students about some technical topic. Mostly I get to choose it, but sometimes the topic is decided higher up.

Two weeks ago I was sort of short on ideas and so I (somewhat reluctantly) did one Peer-to-Peer file sharing and our policies on that. Then my boss told me I had to do a second part about the RIAA's latest crackdown, targeting college students. (Because I guess it's sort of bad press when they target preteen kids, single parents, and people who don't even own computers, but I wasn't allowed to say that.) That put me in kind of a quandary, because I don't much like the RIAA's legal tactics, but I bit my tongue and wrote the thing anyway, taking as neutral a stance as I could because I knew I was going to have to get it approved by the higher-ups.

Now, before I take this any farther, let me make a couple of things clear: I do believe that it is wrong to download and share stuff if you don't own the copyright. Even if the artists are only missing a few cents per song, you're still stealing from them, and by making an illegallly downloaded song, movie, or whatever available to others, you're aiding and abetting theft from the artists. Yes, I know most of the profit on music and movies goes to big fat corporations, and there's a certain appeal in sticking it to the man, but I still need to live with my conscience.

That does not mean I like the RIAA or want to help them, though. In case you don't know about what they've been up to lately, they are starting a major new offensive targeting college students with lawsuits. When they find somebody sharing a song, they look at their IP address which tells them the network the sharer is on, but not much else. If that network is owned by a university instead of, say, Earthlink, the RIAA is more likely to start a lawsuit. They contact the university and demand the sharer's name, and if the university refuses, the RIAA can subpoena the necessary records. Our university will not turn over student data without a subpoena, but unfortunately subpoenas are easy for the RIAA to get.

The RIAA also asks the university network administrators to forward a warning letter to the student, offering a chance to settle out of court. I consider this really insidious; the thing is, the RIAA is not guaranteed to win in court (though they do more often than not, it still costs them a lot) and they want to scare students into admitting guilt and paying a smaller amount to avoid the lawsuit. Considering the RIAA sues for a minumum of $750 per song, an out of court settlement might be tempting. But if you do share music, and you are hit with one of these letters, definitely seek legal advice before agreeing to the offer. Here is a directory of lawyers currently taking on RIAA lawsuits.

That's it for now.

----Ron

[link of the moment    | The Comics Curmudgeon - When you're tired of being mad at the world and want to be snarky about something trivial instead]
[book of the moment  | Code 2.0, by Lawrence Lessig]
[quote of the moment| "In thory, there is no difference between theory and practice."]
[mood of the moment | annoyed]
[music of the moment |R.E.M. - Welcome To The Occupation]