Spring Break
Music downloads spur copyright complaints
UWEC notified of 75 instances of illegal file sharing on campus, mainly by students
Tim Ruzek
Issue date: 4/17/03 Section: Campus News
Last school year, UW-Eau Claire received about 15 notices from copyright holders, such as Universal Studios and Sony, about on-campus students allegedly downloading media files illegally.
On Tuesday, 21 copyright infringement complaints arrived at the office of McIntyre Library Director Robert Rose, who notifies the alleged offenders. Overall this school year, Rose has received more than 75 copyright complaints for students mainly using the Kazaa file-sharing Web site illegally.
The recent increase in notices comes in the wake of the music industry's lawsuit earlier this month against four students from three universities for operating Napster-like file-sharing sites. The students operated campus networks that illegally circulated millions of copyrighted songs in a similar way to the once-popular free music site Napster, which a U.S. court ruled in 2001 had engaged in wholesale copyright infringement.
The Recording Industry Association of America, the music industry's lobbying group that filed the lawsuit, sent 18 of the 21 copyright notices Tuesday to Eau Claire, Rose said.
"It's turning into a pretty intensive effort," Rose said.
A copyright holder, like the RIAA, first sends a complaint to the UW System, Rose said. For Eau Claire, System officials send the message to the university, and Computing and Networking Services determines who lives in the room with the alleged violation. Rose then informs the accused student and tells him or her to erase any illegal downloads and stop further illegal file sharing.
If a student doesn't comply within a few days, Rose notifies Associate Dean of Students Bob Shaw, who contacts the student.
About five to six students a year do not respond to the initial warning, Shaw said, and need to be contacted by him. Everyone has complied, he said, thus, avoiding the risk of the university having to block aspects of their online use.
| "I don't think it's a really big concern ..." -Matt Hasty Sophomore on file-sharing programs |
On Tuesday, 21 copyright infringement complaints arrived at the office of McIntyre Library Director Robert Rose, who notifies the alleged offenders. Overall this school year, Rose has received more than 75 copyright complaints for students mainly using the Kazaa file-sharing Web site illegally.
The recent increase in notices comes in the wake of the music industry's lawsuit earlier this month against four students from three universities for operating Napster-like file-sharing sites. The students operated campus networks that illegally circulated millions of copyrighted songs in a similar way to the once-popular free music site Napster, which a U.S. court ruled in 2001 had engaged in wholesale copyright infringement.
The Recording Industry Association of America, the music industry's lobbying group that filed the lawsuit, sent 18 of the 21 copyright notices Tuesday to Eau Claire, Rose said.
"It's turning into a pretty intensive effort," Rose said.
A copyright holder, like the RIAA, first sends a complaint to the UW System, Rose said. For Eau Claire, System officials send the message to the university, and Computing and Networking Services determines who lives in the room with the alleged violation. Rose then informs the accused student and tells him or her to erase any illegal downloads and stop further illegal file sharing.
If a student doesn't comply within a few days, Rose notifies Associate Dean of Students Bob Shaw, who contacts the student.
About five to six students a year do not respond to the initial warning, Shaw said, and need to be contacted by him. Everyone has complied, he said, thus, avoiding the risk of the university having to block aspects of their online use.