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
Editor's Note: This is an expanded version of a story that ran in the Leader-Telegram on Monday and is reprinted with permission.
Junior Brianna Schieve knows illegal file sharing is common among her peers, but she was surprised to hear that students at UW-Eau Claire lead the UW System in potential lawsuits.
"I think it's weird that we would have so many more (than) bigger schools," she said.
Students and officials remain perplexed by Eau Claire's prominence in the RIAA's spate of lawsuit threats, with possible causes including university policy, students' view of file sharing and the RIAA's own methods.
The university recently received 22 warnings of potential lawsuits against students, while schools such as UW-Milwaukee and UW-Madison - roughly two and four times larger, respectively - garnered 16 each.
Eau Claire also ranked 14th on a list the RIAA compiled in February of the 25 universities it has sent the most general violation notifications to.
The RIAA, which tracks offenders by their Internet Protocol addresses and depends on universities to contact students, is guarded about its investigation methods, leaving officials across the System confused.
"I simply don't know why (Eau Claire) had so many letters sent," System Chief Information Officer Ed Meachen said.
A Leader-Telegram review showed that Eau Claire addresses server regulation differently than many universities.
Officials at Madison, UW-La Crosse and UW-Stout all said they have bandwidth restrictions - either on their residence halls or on peer-to-peer file sharing - that slow sharing speeds and prioritize Internet use.
Eau Claire doesn't restrict specific activity or parts of its server, though it will hamper down on users taking up large amounts of bandwidth for a long time, Chief Information Officer Chip Eckardt said.
"There are a number of legitimate reasons (for peer-to-peer file sharing)," Eckardt said. "Our philosophy is we don't look at content."
Junior Brianna Schieve knows illegal file sharing is common among her peers, but she was surprised to hear that students at UW-Eau Claire lead the UW System in potential lawsuits.
"I think it's weird that we would have so many more (than) bigger schools," she said.
Students and officials remain perplexed by Eau Claire's prominence in the RIAA's spate of lawsuit threats, with possible causes including university policy, students' view of file sharing and the RIAA's own methods.
The university recently received 22 warnings of potential lawsuits against students, while schools such as UW-Milwaukee and UW-Madison - roughly two and four times larger, respectively - garnered 16 each.
Eau Claire also ranked 14th on a list the RIAA compiled in February of the 25 universities it has sent the most general violation notifications to.
The RIAA, which tracks offenders by their Internet Protocol addresses and depends on universities to contact students, is guarded about its investigation methods, leaving officials across the System confused.
"I simply don't know why (Eau Claire) had so many letters sent," System Chief Information Officer Ed Meachen said.
A Leader-Telegram review showed that Eau Claire addresses server regulation differently than many universities.
Officials at Madison, UW-La Crosse and UW-Stout all said they have bandwidth restrictions - either on their residence halls or on peer-to-peer file sharing - that slow sharing speeds and prioritize Internet use.
Eau Claire doesn't restrict specific activity or parts of its server, though it will hamper down on users taking up large amounts of bandwidth for a long time, Chief Information Officer Chip Eckardt said.
"There are a number of legitimate reasons (for peer-to-peer file sharing)," Eckardt said. "Our philosophy is we don't look at content."
Be the first to comment on this story