Spring Break
Campus reacts to RIAA threats
Many confused about high number of possible lawsuits
Brian Reisinger
Issue date: 4/5/07 Section: Campus News
Many universities deny access to possible offenders, an approach Eau Claire is working to include in its protocol.
Eau Claire officials, who pride themselves on the university's Internet access and say further regulation may limit legitimate academic activity, think students at Eau Claire simply don't understand the consequences.
"There are some downsides to those 'content management' solutions," said Craig Mey, director of Learning and Technology Services. "We may not have done as thorough of a job (raising awareness) as some other campuses have."
Milwaukee - which focuses heavily on educating students about the issue - reported little restriction and still received fewer pre-litigation notices.
RIAA spokeswoman Jenni Engebretson dispelled thoughts among officials that Eau Claire underwent review at a "high traffic" time, saying the review didn't go school-by-school.
The discrepancy in potential lawsuits also has some questioning the RIAA's methods.
"You would think that based on the (size), Eau Claire would have a considerably smaller portion," said Brian Rust, communication manager for the Division of Information Technology at Madison. "That says to me it's entirely up to the RIAA."
Senior Stephen Hilger, director of the Information Technology Commission, went further, saying he thinks the RIAA is focusing on Eau Claire because of perceived lax policies.
"That's why it's happening - they want policy change," Hilger said.
Engebretson would not say definitively what the criterion for action entails, though she denied any sort of student "targeting."
"I'm not going to get into the specific details of our investigative process," Engebretson said. "We target the illegal activity, not individual student populations."
Eau Claire officials, who pride themselves on the university's Internet access and say further regulation may limit legitimate academic activity, think students at Eau Claire simply don't understand the consequences.
"There are some downsides to those 'content management' solutions," said Craig Mey, director of Learning and Technology Services. "We may not have done as thorough of a job (raising awareness) as some other campuses have."
Milwaukee - which focuses heavily on educating students about the issue - reported little restriction and still received fewer pre-litigation notices.
RIAA spokeswoman Jenni Engebretson dispelled thoughts among officials that Eau Claire underwent review at a "high traffic" time, saying the review didn't go school-by-school.
The discrepancy in potential lawsuits also has some questioning the RIAA's methods.
"You would think that based on the (size), Eau Claire would have a considerably smaller portion," said Brian Rust, communication manager for the Division of Information Technology at Madison. "That says to me it's entirely up to the RIAA."
Senior Stephen Hilger, director of the Information Technology Commission, went further, saying he thinks the RIAA is focusing on Eau Claire because of perceived lax policies.
"That's why it's happening - they want policy change," Hilger said.
Engebretson would not say definitively what the criterion for action entails, though she denied any sort of student "targeting."
"I'm not going to get into the specific details of our investigative process," Engebretson said. "We target the illegal activity, not individual student populations."
Be the first to comment on this story