Kipp Andrews said he downloads nearly three CDs a day and has downloaded about 20,000 songs since he first began in 1998. He has used nearly every peer-to-peer file sharing software over the years, including Morpheus, Kazaa, LimeWire, Frostbite, eMule and Napster.
Although he understands what he does is illegal, Andrews, a freshman telecommunications major, said he has his reasons.
"I'm poor and I can't go and buy CD after CD," Andrews said. "Also, there's a lot of music you just can't get around here. It's not like Wal-Mart carries Of Montreal."
The Recording Industry Association of America, a trade group representing the U.S. recording industry, announced recently it would discontinue its practice of suing anyone engaged in illegal audio file trafficking in favor of working with Internet service providers to track down illegal file sharers and send them warning notifications or suspending their user accounts.
The RIAA cited many studies for campaigning against college students.
According to market research firm NPD, college students alone accounted for more than 1.3 billion illegal music downloads in 2006.
A 2006 survey by the Student Monitor found that more than half of college students download music and movies illegally.
According to Ball State University's Student Code of Rights and Responsibilities under the Personal and Commercial Usage of Information Technology Resources section, "incidental personal or commercial usage involve violations of the law" is strongly prohibited.
In cases of music copyright violation, the university is notified by the RIAA with an infringment notice accompanied by an IP address, David Fried, director of student rights and community standards, said.
University Computing Services then uses the IP address to track down the student responsible for the infringement who is then called to the dean's office for violation of the computer users policy, he added.
The student receives a letter of warning for a first offense.
"I probably get about two or four offenders a year," Fried said. "I've never gotten a second offender in the seven years I've been here."
Although the RIAA stopped filing new lawsuits in August 2008, many people are still fighting.
Joel Tenenbaum, a Boston University graduate student received a pre-litigation letter from the RIAA in 2003 accusing him of downloading music through a peer-to-perr service. The letter stated he could settle the case for the $3,500. Tenenbaum called the RIAA payment hotline and offered $500, which they declined.
In 2007, the RIAA took him to court claiming he shared 816 songs and picked seven songs to sue him for. Tenenbaum, with the help of his mother, offered to settle for $5,000, which the RIAA declined. They offered a counter settlement of $10,000 to be paid over one year, which Tenenbaum declined.
Tenenbaum was approached by Charles Nesson, Co-Founder of Berkman Center for Internet and Society and professor of law at Harvard University, who offered to take over his case.
Currently, Tenenbaum and Nesson are countersuing the RIAA for violating the priviledge of using the federal courts.
"So far we haven't put a number on anything," Nesson said. "We are just suing for justice."
The Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999 sets damages of $750 to $30,000 for each infringement and up to $150,000 for a willful violation. Tenenbaum could be forced to pay $1 million for the seven songs he downloaded if his alleged actions are determined to be willful.
A trial date has been set for March 30.
On Dec. 23, 2008, Mitch Bainwol, Chairman and CEO of the RIAA, sent a letter to the House and Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees notifying them that the RIAA has stopped their "broad-based end user litigation program against illegal downloading on peer-to-peer (p2p) networks."
The RIAA had been filing civil lawsuits against people illegally distributing copyrighted music on peer-to-peer networks since late 2003.
Since that time, it has opened legal proceedings against about 35,000 people, including a 12-year-old girl, a dead woman, a homeless man and a disabled single mother.
In Bainwol's letter to Congress, he wrote, "When we originally initiated the litigation program some five years ago, we made clear that lawsuits were not our preferred response. We simply had no other alternatives."
The letter cites little cooperation from schools and Internet service providers and the lack of awareness from parents as reasons for resorting to lawsuits.
The RIAA said its primary goal in their litigation program was to protect the intellectual property rights of artists. Several studies released following the initiation of the program reinforced its sense of urgency.
A 2007 study by the Institute for Policy Innovation found that global music piracy causes $12.5 billion in U.S. economic losses every year and more than 71,000 lost jobs.
According to the NPD group, the number of households that downloaded music via peer-to-peer has risen from 6.9 million households in April 2003 to 7.8 million in March 2007.
In February 2007, the RIAA began an anti-piracy campaign focusing more on illegal peer-to-peer file sharing among college students.
The RIAA has an online investigation team that monitors illicit peer-to-peer file trafficking online and looks for copywritten works being shared. Two types of notices were sent to universities in the case of illegal activity, Digital Millenium Copyright Act notices and pre-litigation letters.
DMCA notices are letters sent to universities notifying them that illegal activity is taking place on their campus. The letter also includes an IP address which the university uses to track down the individual in question and make sure the illegal material is taken down.
Pre-litigation letters informed the school of a forthcoming copyright infringement lawsuit against one of its students or personnel. The offender was allowed to settle the record company claims at a discounted rate before a lawsuit was filed.
On Feb. 23, they began their campaign by sending 400 pre-litigation letters to 13 different universities including Ohio University, Syracuse University and the University of Southern California.
Rick Di Gillianardo, director of music technology and RIAA member said the RIAA did a terrible job dealing with the digitial market.
"They sued the people who support their business," Di Gillianardo said. "It's like having an attorney outside of Wal-Mart to sue people before they buy their goods."
Di Gillianardo added the RIAA's recent move was a great decision considering regulating music file sharing is a logistical nightmare.
"You can't beat 'em, join 'em," Di Gillianardo said.
As a musician, Andrews said he sees online music downloading as a great way to get his music out there.
As a music fan, Andrews said he still believes in artist loyalty.
"I buy the CDs by bands I actually care about," Andrews said. "If I'm really really into a band, I'll go out and support them."
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