Music Downloaders
As students, we get a little antsy using software like Limewire or BitTorrent on the Midd network. Will Middlebury turn you in for illegally downloading one of the 210 top songs in 2008? Well, perhaps fear not? The RIAA has decided to stop suing people who share copyrighted music. Questions? Email Midd’s filesharing expert: Jeff Rehbach at LIS.
The move ends a controversial program that saw the Recording Industry Association of America sue about 35,000 people since 2003 for swapping songs online. Because of high legal costs for defenders, virtually all of those hit with lawsuits settled, on average for around $3,500. The association’s legal costs, in the meantime, exceeded the settlement money it brought in.
The association said Friday that it stopped sending out new lawsuits and warnings in August, and then agreed with several leading U.S. Internet service providers, without naming which ones, to notify alleged illegal file-sharers and cut off service if they failed to stop.
“We’re at a point where there’s a sense of comfort that we can replace one form of deterrent with another form of deterrent,” said RIAA Chairman and Chief Executive Mitch Bainwol. “Filing lawsuits as a strategy to deal with a big problem was not our first choice five years ago.”
The new notification program is also more efficient, he said, having sent out more notices in the few months since it started than in the five years of the lawsuit campaign.
The group says it will still continue to litigate outstanding cases, most of which are in the pre-lawsuit warning stage, but some of which are before the courts.
(via Wesleying and Chicago Sun Times)
Midd never “turns you in” for file-sharing. If LIS receives a notice from the recording industry association, motion picture association, or HBO alleging a file-sharing violation, we trace (when possible) the internet address — that they provide — to an individual computer. LIS then lets that user know that file-sharing has been reported to us. We recommend removing the file(s) and disabling file-sharing distribution [upload] to the internet — which in most cases indeed is, though commonplace, a violation of federal law if it involves copyrighed files.
By default, Limewire, various torrent programs, etc. are configured to upload as well as download — you should have options to control which! — and we urge you to take appropriate precautions.
I suspect that internet service providers, including the College, will continue to receive notices when agencies detect sharing of copyrighted files out to the internet; and, under our current policy, we’ll continue to pass them on to individuals so that you’re aware your activity has been detected by others outside the College.
We don’t look for filesharing; but, take note that Congress has considerded legislation that would require academic institutions to block such traffic! Such a law hasn’t passed, but each year, it seemingly gets closer. Just this past summer, a law that controls provision of federal student loans and other funds to colleges required that we make students aware of copyright law, and promote alternatives to illegal activity.
So… why not use services such as iTunes, or advertising-supported services such as Ruckus, or subscribe for just a couple dollars a month to MyTracks. Why do it this way, the “legal” way? It helps performers and composers and lyricists get a portion of what they’re due as creative artists (even if the record companies still absorb most of the profit). Over time, let’s hope the music industry model will adapt to user expectations and contemporary technologies, and finding ways to compensate those who make their lives and reputations as artists and performers