Walking through the dorms, a person would have to try hard not
to notice the shared folder icons on students’ computer
screens and the sound of music libraries playing pirated copies of
the latest hit singles.
And with high-speed Internet access available in university
dorms, the ability to almost instantly download any song imaginable
for free is just a mouse click away.
Despite the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which forbids the
sharing of copyrighted music, most students remain nonchalant about
illegally downloading and uploading music files on peer-to-peer
networks like Kazaa and Morpheus.
“I think (students) know what could happen to them (if
they are caught illegally sharing music files), but I don’t
think it would ever happen to me. And I think everyone else feels
the same way,” second-year undeclared student Hilary Lucas
said. “They may have heard of what could happen, but they
don’t take it seriously.”
It is for this reason that the Recording Industry Association of
America has started a campaign involving college administrators in
the past year to both educate the public about the consequences of
file-sharing as well as to take legal action against cases of
infringement.
When the RIAA can identify a music file being shared on a
particular campus network, it sends a claim of infringement to the
university that lists the IP address from which the music was
shared and the file or files that were shared. Then, in order to
protect the university from liability over what is illegally being
done on its network, the school traces the IP address to a
particular machine and individual.
A first-time offender at UCLA can expect to receive an
electronic notice explaining that the file-sharing they are doing
is illegal and asking the individual to stop. However, UCLA has yet
to have a second-time offender, and the administration is in the
process of deciding what will be done in that situation.
“I think the most important point here is that we
absolutely are not monitoring individuals’ behaviors on the
network for the purpose of discovering illegal activity,”
Vice Chancellor of Information Technology Jim Davis said.
A recent study at the University of Tennessee showed that 75
percent of the traffic on its computer server was the illegal
sharing of movies and music. Paying for the extra bandwidth is
beginning to cost universities hundreds of thousands of dollars. As
a result, schools across the country have employed solutions to the
problem of illegal file-sharing, like limiting students’
Internet access to as little as 20 hours a month or completely
blocking students from accessing peer-to-peer networks.
However, UCLA has no intention as of yet to limit or block
students’ computer use. The administration would prefer to
educate students about the consequences of what they are doing and
let the decision not to file-share be their own.
“Our position is that the tools are not the issue,
it’s what’s done on the tools,” Davis said.
“And if we can get a significant decrease in the number of
these claims coming in, that would be a much preferred way to go.
Our position is really to resist removal or take down of
tools.”
As the record industry is down for the third straight year with
a double-digit drop in sales, aspiring musicians and music fans
will begin to feel the effects of piracy.
“What the record companies do is rely on the money they
make from commercial hits, which are few and far between, to invest
in all of the new artists,” RIAA Director of Communications
Jonathan Lamy said. “So when they’re not in a position
to do that, that means there’s less new music out there, and
we don’t think anyone would be happy with that
outcome.”
Some students, however, do not feel the immediacy of
file-sharing.
“I understand that it’s illegal and I understand
that some people have been prosecuted for it,” said
second-year undeclared student Heather Searles. “However,
I’m really not afraid that the resident director is going to
walk into my bedroom and confiscate my computer. I don’t
think Aerosmith’s lawyers are going to be calling my parents
any time soon saying, “˜Your kid has two of our songs
downloaded!'”
The RIAA recently sued four college students who were running
file-sharing networks on their campus servers. Each of the
individuals settled their lawsuits for a sum between $12,000 and
$17,000.
“Thousands of employees are being laid off at the record
companies, record stores are closing, artists’ budgets are
being slashed,” Lamy said. “Piracy is having a real
impact, and people need to understand there can be real
consequences to this kind of illegal activity.”