Students forced to delete music

Close to 200 IU students were told to delete movie and music files from their computers last month. University Information Technology Services received notifications from the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America saying users of IU's network were illegally distributing copyrighted material. \nIn response, IU sent e-mails to 177 users telling them they should delete the files. If the students refused to comply, they were told they would have their Internet access shut off and would be reported to a judicial board. \nRachel Ward, resident of McNutt Quad, received an e-mail and deleted all of her music files. She used the peer to peer program Limeware to download songs by Avril Lavigne, Tim McGraw and Billy Joel.\n"I was very, very scared. I thought I was going to jail," Ward said. "I erased everything I had and deleted the program."\nUnder the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Internet Service Providers like IU can force their users to stop trading copyrighted material. \n"This isn't something the University came up with," IT Policy Officer Mark Bruhn said. "This is copyright law in the United States."\nBruhn said he expects the RIAA and the MPAA to target individual students in even greater numbers. \n"One-hundred and seventy-seven (students) was pretty high compared to other months," Bruhn said. "But we expect at least that number per month from now on."\nThe RIAA claims to be losing millions of dollars each year as a result of peer to peer software programs like Kazaa and BearShare. Under federal law, copyright holders can now force ISPs like IU to provide the names of users who break the law. \nStudents who continue to download copyrighted material illegally may be open for fines of up to $300,000.\n"The RIAA is leaving open the possibility of doing that to students," IU counsel Beth Cate said. "The risk is certainly there."\nThe RIAA and MPAA have people constantly monitoring the Internet for copyright infringement, Cate said. When they observe someone trading copyrighted material on IU's servers, they notify IU of the violation. Violaters are identified by number, not by name. \nBruhn said most students complied with the e-mail notifications and deleted their files. Some students' access to the Internet was shut off, however.\n"If we don't do that, then the illegal material continues to be served from our network, and the University might incur some legal liability," Bruhn said. \nThree months ago the RIAA sent a letter to all college presidents urging them to clamp down on peer-to-peer trading. IU does not monitor for copyright infringement out of respect for privacy and academic freedom, Cate said.\n"We don't monitor our networks for this kind of stuff," she said. "We just react when people notify us."\nIn the e-mail IU sent out to the alleged copyright infringers, Incident Response Coordinator Tom Jagatic warned users that their identities can be obtained by RIAA and the MPAA under the No Electronic Theft Act of 1997. \nWard said she deleted all her files because she doesn't want to go to jail.\n"I realized it's breaking the law," she said. "Never again"