The combination of UCLA’s fast Internet connection and the
ease of finding just about anything online results in a temptation
to download songs and movies ““ a temptation that many
students cannot resist.
Although the number of students downloading copyrighted songs
has decreased noticeably since the Recording Industry Association
of America’s June announcement that it planned to sue
individuals who shared songs online, many believe this will not
stop the file sharing.
“Right now, there are probably hundreds of people out
there working on a way to share files without getting
caught,” said third-year computer engineering student Steven
Chao.
“The music industry is just going to keep (working)
against the new ways people are creating to make file sharing less
risky,” he said.
At a university with so many students using the school’s
servers to download media, UCLA is also fighting against the
illegal spread of copyrighted material.
“Our stance is that we don’t condone it
whatsoever,” said Jim Davis, associate vice chancellor of the
Office of Information Technology. “It is an illegal
activity.”
Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Internet service
providers, including UCLA, are not held liable for the actions of
their Internet users.
However, they are required to operate under certain rules, which
have to do with expeditious follow-ups on any notifications of
illegal activity.
As UCLA does not monitor the computers on its Internet service
for purposes of illegal activity, all notifications of the sharing
of copyrighted material come from copyright holders, like the RIAA
and the movie industries.
UCLA is notified once these associations see illegal files are
being shared. The vast majority of the files are music, movies and
general software, Davis said.
When UCLA is notified, it provides a first notification to the
offender, asking that person to stop. However, if that person is
performing “massive” amounts of copying, subpoenas may
be issued and that person may be subject to external law
enforcement.
“I don’t think (illegal file sharing) is a
significant factor in the reputation of the university, but it is
significant … in that UCLA knows the action is illegal and does
not condone it,” said Davis. “When incidents like that
occur, that’s what’s in question.”
The emergence of RIAA-issued subpoenas in July and lawsuits in
early September has prompted many students to stop downloading.
“I didn’t really know it was illegal before
then,” said second-year undeclared student Christina Morris.
“You don’t really think of it as stealing because
it’s so easy to do. Everyone did it and no one got
caught.”
Other students said they didn’t equate downloading with
shoplifting, as the repercussions for downloading are not as
serious as those for shoplifting.
“You don’t think it’s stealing because
it’s so out there, waiting for you to take it because no
one’s looking,” said second-year psychology student Sam
Chun. “But now that people have gotten caught it feels more
like you’re stealing and that you’ll get punished for
it.”
Individuals caught downloading copyrighted files can spend up to
three years in prison and fined as much as $250,000.
To make students more aware of the issues regarding illegal file
sharing, the UC system has notified all of its chancellors of the
issue and has suggested that each campus implement an education and
awareness campaign.
“File sharing has been on the table for 10 years,”
said Davis. “The reason it’s at the forefront right now
is that it’s having a big impact on the music industry, and
because the ability to share files electronically has grown
tremendously over the past couple years.”
“These measures have been in place for a number of years.
We’re just stepping up the intensity on these now,” he
added
An education and awareness campaign is the first part of
UCLA’s movement to halt file sharing at UCLA.
The other two parts of the campaign consist of notifying
students about their offenses and working to protect the
copyrighted material.
Consequently, UCLA sent out an e-mail message to all students
last year to inform them of the gravity of illegally downloading
copyrighted material. The same message was put into the Daily Bruin
and put on the campus television channel in the residence halls,
steps that will be repeated the first week of October.
Illegal file sharing was also a topic of discussion during the
new student and parent orientations over summer.
“It kind of sucks because I don’t have a fast
(Internet) connection at home and I was planning on downloading
here,” said first-year biology student Jennifer Tran.
“But then all the lawsuit stuff happened over
summer.”
Other first-year students still plan on downloading media in the
residence halls, as long as the material has no United States
copyright.
“I wasn’t planning to download songs off the
Internet,” said first-year undeclared student Kevin Tanaka.
“If I do download anything, it would probably be anime or
something that’s not copyrighted in the U.S.”
UCLA is also working on its notification process and has agreed
to work only with first notifications for the time being. The
specifics of a second notification have not been made yet.
“Anyone who is caught a second time after their first
notification would be a serious offender,” said Davis.
“But of our notifications, we have not had a repeat offender.
That is very good news for UCLA, but we still want to be prepared
for a repeat offender.”