The Recording Industry Association of America is targetingillegal file sharers and Ball State students may have reason toworry.
On Sept. 8 the RIAA filed 261 lawsuits against individuals whoillegally downloaded and shared songs on the Internet.
Among those individuals was 12-year-old Brianna LaHara of NewYork who was accused of downloading more than 1,000 songs fromKazaa.
Programs such as Kazaa, Grokster, Imesh, Gnutella and Blubsterare just a few programs that give users a site on which to trademusic.
Ball State does not prohibit file sharing and has made effortsto limit students' ability to use file sharing sites on-campus,said Loren Malm, senior coordinator for technologies and systemintegration.
Firewalls, a part of Ball State's system, slow down, if notcompletely prevent, students from downloading music, Malm said.
However, some students are still able to get through firewallsand download music.
"At the beginning of the school year we receive quite a fewnotices of illegal P2P file sharing," Malm said. "Sometimes as manyas two or three a week."
Ball State students who have been tracked by the RIAA have notexperienced any legal consequences yet, said Brian Farber,assistant dean of students.
"Sharing one song is enough for the RIAA to take action," Malmsaid.
The firewalls that Ball State has set up serve to prioritize thetraffic on Ball State's bandwidth.
Using P2P illegal file-sharing sites can prevent other usersfrom obtaining educational information, Malm said.
When a student does get through the firewalls and is caught bythe RIAA downloading music, the RIAA sends written notifications toBall State informing them of the illegal action taking place oncampus, Malm said. The RIAA provides the university with the IPaddress which allows the university to track where the activityoccurred.
The dean of students is then responsible for making sure thestudent is prevented from participating in any further activity,Malm said.
"All illegally downloaded songs and software must be removedfrom the student's computer," Farber said. "The recording industryexpects (Ball State) to stop the activity immediately."
If Ball State does not take immediate action then it could befined.
"We have not experienced any financial penalties yet," Farbersaid.
If a student is caught participating in illegal file sharingtwice they could face suspension or expulsion from the university,Farber said.
The problem with P2P sharing is that once a song is downloadedthat song can be shared even when the computer is off.
"Most students won't even know when they are sharing," Farbersaid.
The RIAA is able to track down these P2P file sharers throughthe Digital Millennium Copyright Act, said Fritz Dolak, copyrightand electronic resources librarian.
This act provides a subpoena which allows anyone who feels hiscopyright has been violated to obtain the name, address andtelephone number of any Internet user without having to file alawsuit or provide evidence of any wrongdoing to a federal judge,Dolak said.
Through this information the RIAA can track all Internetactivity of an individual, including P2P file sharing, Dolaksaid.
"The RIAA is currently aiming for 75 subpoenas a day," Dolaksaid. "The university will cooperate with any subpoena against astudent and give (the RIAA) a student's name if they neededit."
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