Lawsuits affect student sharing

Freshman Allie Krueger legally downloads music using Apple's iTunes software, a program offering thousands of downloadable songs for 99 cents each. \nKrueger said she is willing to pay if it means avoiding a thousand-dollar lawsuit. \n"It's not that bad," said Krueger about the iTunes pricing. "Even if I download twenty songs a month, that's only 20 bucks, and I don't have to worry about getting caught."\nBut prosecution looms ahead for five IU file-sharers, making many IU users of peer-to-peer software think hard about what they download. University officials had not received subpoenas from the Recording Industry of America Association Friday, so the identities of the accused students are still unknown.\nThe IU students were part of a wave of lawsuits filed last week targeting 539 downloaders across the country. The average number of songs shared by the defendants was 800, said the RIAA president. Copyright law allows for court-ordered damages of $100,000 per song.\nMany programs that support illegal music downloads still exist, including KaZaa, KaZaa Lite, Bear Share, Grokster and Morpheus. Often, users will disable the sharing part of the software, which is how the RIAA tracks file-sharers. \nFreshman Christina Acker said she shares her music files on KaZaa Lite despite the increased risk of being sued. Acker said she doesn't think it is fair to download music without sharing it in return.\n"It's easier to get music this way," Acker said. "If people don't share, then the software can't even exist."\nIllegal file-sharing programs exist because of peer-to-peer sharing. According to www.copyrightguru.com, sharing is a way to make the files stored on one computer available to others. The software itself is not illegal, but it is illegal to share copyrighted material without specific permission from the artist. \nIt isn't legal to share the newest Britney Spears song with a friend, but it is legal to share your latest essay with them.\n"Downloading is going to happen," Krueger said. "Students download knowing they could get caught but just hope they won't." \nFreshman Claire Dagress said she doesn't understand why the industry goes after college students. \n"Why don't they go after MP3 players?" she said. "They promote the illegal downloading of music, too."\nAcker said she doesn't believe the music industry even needs the proceeds from CD sales anyway.\n"Artists and labels make most of their money from concert sales anyway," she said. "Plus, I hate paying the price of a CD for two songs I really want."\nBryan Liebreman, a visiting student from Tulane in New Orleans, shares over 2,000 files himself. \n"If the music industry really wants people to buy CDs, then they should stop prosecuting their biggest customers -- college students," he said.\nIn fact, Liebreman said many smaller bands want their files to be shared on these peer-to-peer networks.\n"I went to a concert for Something Corporate, and at the end, they asked us to download their music illegally," said Liebreman. "They said they wanted more people to get to know their music that way."\nKrueger said she has learned not to download copyrighted files illegally any longer. She said the risks are too high.\n"It's not just the threat of getting caught that keeps me from downloading," she said. "KaZaa was giving me a lot of viruses and other problems."\n-- Contact staff writer Cecelia Wolford at cwolford@indiana.edu.