2008 Woodie Awards
RIAA fines UW students
Erik Hyrkas
Issue date: 4/12/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
On Friday, March 23, The Recording Industry Association of America, (RIAA) sent 405 settlement letters to 23 universities in the nation. The letters, which target college students who have illegally downloaded music, are a part of the organization's highly publicized anti-piracy campaign.
Between 66 and 68 students targeted by the letters attend UW schools statewide. However, the RIAA only knows the IP addresses of the targeted offenders, and requested the universities to help them get the letters to the correct names.
According to the Milwaukee "Journal Sentinel," the RIAA say 23 of the students attend UW-Eau Claire and 16 at UW-Madison, 16 at UW-Milwaukee, four at UW-Stevens Point, four at UW-Stout, one at Parkside, one at Platteville and one at Whitewater.
The letters inform the students of the possible lawsuits if they do not agree to settle. Madison.com says that the RIAA has not officially said how much they're asking for in the letters, but according to Brian Rust the communications manager for UW-Madison, $700-750 per instance, or $3,000 could throw the case out.
This news has brought many questions to Lakeland as well. With illegal peer-to-peer downloading, students are wondering if the RIAA could do the same to Lakeland students.
According to Larry Marcus, a Lakeland IT specialist, "That is why we block P2P networking." Marcus also said Lakeland has received letters in the past warning of fines like in the current RIAA situation. However, the letters gave the option to the accused of deleting the files to resolve the problem.
If something like the current RIAA scandal had been at Lakeland, the question being whether or not Lakeland would facilitate the RIAA in sending the letters to the correct students, Marcus said, "Officially, we would go to Tony Fessler to have the legal council deal with the problem."
Tony Fessler, the vice president of international programs & general counsel at Lakeland said it would be a complicated situation which would involve balancing the rights of the students with the rights of the companies to their music.
Fessler also said situations like these are why many of the current IT policies are based on these rights.
Between 66 and 68 students targeted by the letters attend UW schools statewide. However, the RIAA only knows the IP addresses of the targeted offenders, and requested the universities to help them get the letters to the correct names.
According to the Milwaukee "Journal Sentinel," the RIAA say 23 of the students attend UW-Eau Claire and 16 at UW-Madison, 16 at UW-Milwaukee, four at UW-Stevens Point, four at UW-Stout, one at Parkside, one at Platteville and one at Whitewater.
The letters inform the students of the possible lawsuits if they do not agree to settle. Madison.com says that the RIAA has not officially said how much they're asking for in the letters, but according to Brian Rust the communications manager for UW-Madison, $700-750 per instance, or $3,000 could throw the case out.
This news has brought many questions to Lakeland as well. With illegal peer-to-peer downloading, students are wondering if the RIAA could do the same to Lakeland students.
According to Larry Marcus, a Lakeland IT specialist, "That is why we block P2P networking." Marcus also said Lakeland has received letters in the past warning of fines like in the current RIAA situation. However, the letters gave the option to the accused of deleting the files to resolve the problem.
If something like the current RIAA scandal had been at Lakeland, the question being whether or not Lakeland would facilitate the RIAA in sending the letters to the correct students, Marcus said, "Officially, we would go to Tony Fessler to have the legal council deal with the problem."
Tony Fessler, the vice president of international programs & general counsel at Lakeland said it would be a complicated situation which would involve balancing the rights of the students with the rights of the companies to their music.
Fessler also said situations like these are why many of the current IT policies are based on these rights.
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