The Observer, October 19, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 8
RIAA asked for settlements from 11 Case students
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Near the end of last spring semester, the department of Student Affairs received its first letter from the Recording Industry Association of America requesting a settlement from a Case student for downloading or uploading copyrighted material. Over the summer, the university received 11 more of the pre-litigation settlement letters from the RIAA.
The letters, sent from a law firm on behalf of the RIAA, identify the copyrighted material of relevance and state the IP address of the offender. The letters are sent to Case IT Services, where they are forwarded to Student Affairs and the user of that IP address.
Each letter requests a monetary settlement, and informs the student that if the claims are not settled, a lawsuit will be filed against them.
"The reason we are sending this letter to you in advance of filing suit is to give you the opportunity to settle these claims as early as possible," reads the letter. "If you contact us within the next forty (40) calendar days, we will offer to settle the claims for a significantly reduced amount compared to what we will offer to settle them for after we file suit or compared to the judgment amount a court may enter against you."
A phone number and a website, http://www.p2plawsuits.com, are then listed, where a settlement to the RIAA can "immediately" be paid.
Melissa Alford-Snyder, director of judicial affairs and community standards, explained the current state of the situation.
"During the last week, we have received subpoenas to release the names of the students who are responsible for the violations referenced in the letters received [last summer]," she said. "It appears that the RIAA is following through with what they said would happen if students didn't settle. Legally, we will have to comply with the subpoenas and release the names of the students to the RIAA."
She also provided information about the amount of the settlements.
"Two students informed me that they did settle with the RIAA," Alford-Snyder explained. "One settlement was for $7000 and the other was for $3000. One student was able to pay the full amount at one time, while the other was given the opportunity to take a maximum of one year to pay the $3000 plus a $500 fee for paying over a year."
There is not necessarily a maximum amount of music that must be shared before a pre-litigation letter is sent. According to the RIAA, even one song can trigger a lawsuit.
The RIAA's recent aggressiveness is actually part of a continued campaign focusing on discouraging college students from sharing music. On Sept. 20, the RIAA issued a press release titled, "RIAA Sends More Law Pre-Lawsuit Letters to Colleges with New School Year." In the press release, the RIAA claimed that 403 settlement letters were sent to 22 universities in the United States.
Case often receives copyright infringement notifications from companies for students downloading or sharing films, TV shows, music, and games. However, these notifications only request that the material be immediately removed. The RIAA is the only organization that has taken legal action against Case students.
The current judicial process that occurs when Case receives a typical notification is that Student Affairs sends a warning to the student, informing him or her that such actions are a violation of the university Computing and Information Technology Policy. The student is also directed to remove the material from access.
If a student fails to remove the material in question, their network access may be discontinued, and they are subject to disciplinary action.
Popular "peer-to-peer" file sharing programs are not anonymous. As sharing protocols like BitTorrent become more prevalent, it becomes easier for IP addresses of those offering material to be obtained en masse. "We still get warnings originating from eDonkey and programs like that, but the nature of BitTorrent makes it simple for the IP address of everyone offering a piece of the file to be recorded," Alford-Snyder explained.
Alford-Snyder described the actions of the RIAA as a way to influence students' purchasing habits. "The RIAA believes that if a student goes through college downloading music, they won't purchase music later on in life either."
Given the RIAA's increasing attention toward college students, Alford-Snyder reminded Case students to be aware of the risks that copyright infringement can bring.
"$3000-$7000 is a lot to pay for 'free' music," she said.
