The Recording Industry Association of America filed lawsuits against 532 people who allegedly have been file sharing in violation of copyright laws Jan. 21.
The newest wave of lawsuits concentrates mainly on those who have shared around 800 songs, but the process the RIAA is using to sue is different than before.
The RIAA’s website explains how the suits were filed. A federal appeals court ruled that the previous process allowed in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act cannot be used in copyright infringement cases involving peer-to-peer networks. In the new “John Doe” process, the RIAA files a suit against the defender, identified by only his Internet Protocol address. Then a standard subpoena forces the defender’s Internet provider to reveal the user’s name.
This new process, however, will not allow the RIAA to contact defenders directly before the suit has been formally filed in case the defender wished to settle out of court. The RIAA said they will contact defenders after the Internet provider has revealed names and contact information in a written release. The price for a defender to settle will be higher than the average $3,000 per suit previously because of the added legal fees.
“The debate isn’t digital versus plastic. It isn’t old versus new. Here’s what it is: legitimate versus illegitimate. It’s iTunes and the new Napster and Wal-Mart, Amazon, Dell, Real, Microsoft and others versus Kazaa, Imesh and Grokster,” Michael Bainwol, chairman and CEO of the RIAA, said in a release. “It’s whether or not digital music will be enjoyed in a fashion that supports the creative process or one that robs it of its future.”
Kim Milford, the Information Security Manager with the University of Wisconsin’s Division of Information Technology, said she typically received five complaints a day from the RIAA about specific students sharing files under the previous process. Under the old system, DoIT would then contact the student to disable the file-sharing device.
“We had about 100 percent compliance from students,” Milford said. “In the past five years, I can recall two instances where we’ve had the RIAA make two requests about a student.”
But under the John Doe process, Milford said DoIT, after receiving a subpoena to release student information, would work with the UW Legal department to ascertain if the subpoena is valid. Because DoIT has not received any subpoenas yet, Milford said the other components of the process have yet to be determined.
Charles E. Phelps, Provost at the University of Rochester, served on a committee that evaluated how colleges would respond after the RIAA contacted schools to reveal the names of students. The University of Rochester is considering an online music service for its students, although the service is still in the planning stages. Other universities have already developed pilot programs to test out a service of this type.
“[The online music service] would give students a legal and convenient way to download music rather than relying on P2P programs that could expose them to the legal risks of violating copyright laws,” Provost Phelps said in a release on Rochester’s website.
UW, according to Milford, is not considering an online music service after students approached by DoIT in a survey said they wanted to share music but also copy the files, which is not possible.
