IU ranks 21st for most illegal downloads

You may not wear a peg leg or a patch over one eye, but the next time you log on to LimeWire and click Download, you may be committing an act of piracy.\nIU was included in a list of the 25 universities with the most notices of music copyright infringement this school year.\nThe Recording Industry Association of America released the list in February.\nOhio University and Purdue University topped the list with 1,287 notices and 1,068 notices, respectively.\nIU was listed as No. 21 with 353 notices.\nAlthough 353 might seem like a large number, Chief IT Officer Merri Beth Lavagnino said it must be considered in proportion to the total number of IU network users.\n“It is important to note that these numbers apply to the entire student population at all IU campuses – 98,000 students – because we receive copyright violation notices for anyone using our network from any location, including laptops using wireless on campus, and access from home using IU’s (Virtual Private Network) service,” she said in an e-mail.\nThe RIAA is a membership organization that represents the U.S. recording industry. Its goal is to protect the property rights of artists and copyright owners, oversee state and federal legislation and policies, and investigate illegal production and distribution of music.\nThe RIAA allocates its resources toward tracking offenders who repeatedly infringe copyright laws. It sends notices to the offending users’ Internet service providers. IU is regarded as an “online service provider” and therefore receives infringement notifications for users on its network, according to the Web site of the University Information Technology Policy Office.\nWhen IU receives such a notice it is expected to “act expeditiously to remove or disable access to infringing material.” This is in accordance with policies established by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act , according to the U.S. government’s copyright Web site. \nThe University can then track offenders through their IP addresses, which are unique addresses given to computers connected to the Internet. Every time a student logs on to a network, the IP address, time and hardware of the computer is identified, Lavagnino said.\nAn IU student who receives a copyright violation notice receives an e-mail with the complaint, and he or she has 24 hours to complete an online tutorial and quiz on copyright laws and infringement. Second offenses merit another e-mail, tutorial and quiz, as well as a two-week ban on any access to the IU network and a disciplinary referral to the Office of the Dean of Students. Third-time offenders are blocked indefinitely from the IU network, banned from registering any computer or device on the network and again referred to the Office of the Dean of Students, according to www.filesharing.iu.edu\n“We have already applied our standard procedures to the notices we’ve received so far this year from the RIAA,” Lavagnino said. “We believe the education part of our procedures is working well, since we see very few second offenses. For example, out of the 353 RIAA notices, only 17 of them have been second offenses, and none of them have been third offenses.”\nDespite strict disciplinary measures, not all students believe sharing music is bad.\nSophomore Brent Williamson doesn’t have much sympathy for losses to record labels and artists on account of copyright infringements.\n“I’m a poor college student,” Williamson said. “I need my money more than a recording artist needs my money.”\n“I don’t deny that it’s stealing,” freshman Allison Germain said. “But I don’t feel any guilt from stealing from some wealthy recording company that’s going to make millions whether or not I share music online. On the other hand I feel a twinge of guilt for stealing music from budding recording artists who are trying to make it in the music world and individual artists who are signed with small independent labels like Domino and Sub Pop.” \nLavagnino suggested measures students should take to avoid copyright infringement.\n“The most important thing you can do is to ensure that the person or place you are getting your music, movies, software, games or other digital files from has permission from the copyright holder to distribute those files to you,” she said.\nLavagnino said students should ensure that their computers are not sharing digital files without authorization and keep their computer’s operating systems current.\n“(Students should) install anti-virus software and keep virus patterns up-to-date,” she said. “These actions can help to protect you from attackers who take over your computer to store their illegal files.”\nFor more information about IU’s copyright and file-sharing policies, visit www.filesharing.iu.edu.