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Music, movie, and software file-sharing causes legal problems for students
By Jessica Ullian
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Many students use free file-sharing services to get music for their MP3 players. The services, while popular, are illegal, and colleges and universities are trying to eliminate or reduce their use on campus. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky |
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Two years ago, when file-sharing was at the peak of its popularity, BU students often told Jim Stone about their belief in the right to free music. As the director of consulting services for the Office of Information Technology, Stone is responsible for notifying students that they have been caught sharing copyrighted music, movies, or software. When he informed them that file-sharing was illegal, they frequently protested that they had done nothing wrong.
“Today, it’s very different,” says Stone. “It seems that a great majority are completely aware that it’s illegal, they shouldn’t do it, and they just got caught.”
Five years after the introduction of Napster, the original music-swapping service, the laws of file-sharing are no longer vague — it’s illegal to share copyrighted files, such as music, movies, or software, without permission. But while students are hearing the message, many have trouble taking it seriously. “They know that it’s against the law,” freshman Laura Fahey (CAS’08) says of her friends who use file-sharing services. “But they feel that it shouldn’t be and they’re not going to get caught, so why not?”
Students increasingly do get caught, however — the most recent wave of lawsuits filed by the Recording Industry Association of America included five BU students. As a result, college officials across the country are searching for more effective ways to combat illegal file-sharing on campuses. And both students and administrators say that the entertainment industry needs to participate in these efforts and recognize that the way people get their music and movies has changed for good.
“File-sharing’s an issue for students, in part because they think they should be able to do it,” says Dean of Students Kenn Elmore. His office has dealt with many students accused of copyright violations — up to 100 a year at one point. “If you’re talking about trying to stop this . . . you’re swimming against the tide of a popular culture that doesn’t sanction this as harshly as maybe it should.”
Lawsuits against file-sharers generally target those who allow “uploading” from their own computers, which means that they provide copyrighted material for others to use. But many people who use file-sharing services, such as Kazaa, lack a clear understanding of how this happens, says Michael Krugman, executive director of the Office of Information Technology. By downloading the music that is stored on another user’s computer, a student is usually providing access to the music that is stored on his or her own computer. When another user uploads those files, the student is illegally, if unintentionally, distributing copyrighted material.
“Students see a link that says, ‘Click here to share music,’” Krugman explains. “They understandably do not appreciate what it is they’re actually doing to their machines. And the next thing you know, they’ve converted their PC to a server, and whenever that server is on the network, it is capable of responding to requests for music from other machines, with or without their knowledge.”
First time offenders “should be given the benefit of the doubt,” Krugman says. Therefore, when the Office of Information Technology is notified that a violation has occurred on BU’s network, the University typically warns the user to remove the material and that failure to comply can result in loss or suspension of University computing privileges.
But the RIAA and the Motion Picture Association of America have become increasingly vigilant about policing their intellectual property, and several court decisions have shaped the way these agencies deal with file-sharers. The network providers are not currently liable when violations arise — although the Business Software Association is lobbying Congress to change that — but even without a network provider’s participation, the RIAA can identify violators by date, time, and location and then file a lawsuit even before learning the user’s name. At that point, the matter is out of BU’s — or any university’s — jurisdiction. In the current case, a suit naming the defendants as “John Does 1-5” has already been filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. Crystal Talley, associate counsel in the Office of the General Counsel, says that the University has been served with a subpoena requesting the names of the five students cited.
Consequently, many universities are trying to find creative ways of reducing the illegal activity. Some schools, such as the University of Georgia, have attempted to thwart music- and movie-swappers by limiting the amount of bandwidth a user can transfer on the university’s network. However, Krugman says that such a restriction is antithetical to BU’s academic mission. “It would impinge on student access to the growing wealth of Internet-based information resources and the world of ideas,” he says.
More institutions, including Cornell, Berkeley, and Penn State, have chosen to offer subscription services that give students access to a library of music and movies that can be downloaded or temporarily “borrowed” from the school’s network. At BU, the Student Union briefly explored the idea of working with a program called Ruckus, which would have provided access to 500,000 songs, movies, and television shows. “After meeting with them, it was decided that their technology isn’t as up-to-date as we would like to work with,” says Student Union President Jon Marker (CAS’07). “We are keeping our eyes open to any future ideas.”
At BU, the most successful approach has been combining education about the risks of file-sharing with some form of entertainment — a method where the parties involved can meet each other halfway, Elmore says. A special showing of the movie Miracle, which took place on campus last February, is a good example, he says; the Motion Picture Association of America gave the University permission to show the film on campus while it was still in theaters, and in exchange Elmore asked the 1,300 students in attendance to cut back on illegal file-sharing.
“That is, I hope, a unique and innovative way to do it,” he says, “and it might go a little further than just sledgehammering people with lawsuits.” He has also encouraged students who believe file-sharing should be legal to write to local legislators and “participate as citizens” instead of willfully breaking the law.
But while legal action remains the weapon of choice for the RIAA and the MPAA, the Office of Information Technology continues to handle copyright violations as it always has — by threatening to suspend the violator’s University computing privileges. According to Stone, who sends out violation notices, the prospect of losing access to BU’s network is a very powerful deterrent.
“Repeat offenders are in the minority,” he says. “And ultimately, they stop.”
28
January 2005
Boston University
Office of University Relations