The number of complaints the university has received about students breaking copyright laws spiked dramatically in September as the recording industry's campaign against illegal file sharing on college campuses escalated, according to university officials.
The university received 135 complaints in September compared to a total of 120 over the previous eight months, the overwhelming majority of which came from the Record Industry Association of America, according to statistics provided by the Office of Information Technology. And while the number of complaints dropped to 40 in October, it remains considerably higher than the monthly average this year.
"There has absolutely been a spike in the recent complaints," said Amy Ginther, coordinator for OIT's Project NEThics. "The spike is attributable to the RIAA."
The university has taken a number of measures to appease the trade organization - including a revision of its network guidelines that shut down file-sharing hub Direct Connect, commonly known as DC++, last semester - but Ginther said any of the recent complaints could "escalate into a lawsuit."
She added the university would not defend a student sued by the RIAA because it would conflict with the university's policy against file sharing, which she said is consistent with the law.
"All of our strategies on this issue are about protecting students to the point that we can," she said. "We're not going to be able to appropriately mount a legal battle" if students here are sued.
Students who are subject of a complaint are informed by the university and asked to remove the illegally obtained material from their computers.
Multiple complaints could lead the university to revoke some of a student's computer privileges or punish the student under university sanctions that aren't specified, according to OIT.
And while the university's Student Legal Aid Office could refer students to an outside attorney, its assistance ends there, said James Jones, the office's director.
A number of organizations and lawyers oppose the RIAA's tactics, saying the lawsuits unfairly target students who do not have the money to fight back, forcing most to make settlements of $3,000 to $4,000 rather than pay steep legal fees.
The RIAA has sued more than 18,200 individuals across the country, many of them college students and one in the University System of Maryland, since it began a nationwide crackdown on file sharing in September 2003, according to a statement from RIAA spokeswoman Amanda Hunter.
In April, the RIAA and the Motion Picture Association of America sent university President Dan Mote and thousands of other university presidents a letter warning that evidence of piracy had been found on their networks.
The university responded with a letter outlining steps it took to limit file sharing, including educating students about copyright law, limiting bandwidth that can be used for peer-to-peer transactions, providing legal alternatives for downloading music and referring students who violate the network policy for disciplinary action.
Opponents say that by focusing on students, who are not likely to bring the suits to court, the RIAA is attempting to shape the gray area of Internet copyright law to its own benefit.
"It's a serious abuse, in my opinion, of the legal process because what they're doing is going after kids," said Richard A. Altman, an attorney based in New York City who recently defended an NYU student against an RIAA law suit. "These cases are being litigated very, very aggressively. And the damages are astronomical."
Hunter provided a statement from the RIAA defending its strategy as a legitimate defense against intellectual property theft.
"These lawsuits are a way to enforce our rights against individuals who steal our product," the statement read. "Keep in mind, deterrence is only one small part of the industry's larger effort to encourage consumers to enjoy music legally. We participate in a number of educational initiatives as well."
The organization released an educational video this semester aimed at incoming college freshman, warning them, "if you're downloading or sharing music with your friends and not paying anything for it, you'd better think twice. You're probably breaking the law."
Ray Beckerman, a lawyer from the New York firm Vandenberg & Feliu, LLP, who founded a blog last year called Recording Industry vs The People, said universities could be doing more to defend students who are the objects of lawsuits.
"I think the universities are greatly remiss in not responding more forcefully against the RIAA," Beckerman said, adding that the RIAA suits have been characterized by a "general brutality that's not the norm in copyright cases."
He said he fears the RIAA will shape the copyright laws dealing with online file sharing to its advantage since the specific behavior constituting infringement is still being defined by the courts, in many cases by judges who do not understand the technology involved.
"The law is not clear," Beckerman said. "And the law will be decided by the record industry if institutions with means don't come to their defense."
Other universities have taken a more proactive stance.
A number of universities offer free or reduced-price legal defense to students, including the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the University of Texas.
As many as 90 students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have been sued by the RIAA in the last two years and the Student Legal Services Office there has defended students in about 60 cases, said Directing Attorney Charles J. Dimare.
Dimare said he does not think most students at a state school can afford the fees for a copyright lawyer, which can be as high as $500 per hour and add up to $100,000 over the course of a trial.
"Who's going to pay that?" he said.
Contact reporter Andrew Vanacore at vanacoredbk@gmail.com.
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