Spring Break
RIAA continues campaign
Three UW-Eau Claire students recieve letters
Nathaniel Shuda
Issue date: 9/27/07 Section: Campus News
In its efforts to crack down on illegal music downloading, the Recording Industry Association of America announced Sept. 20 it will continue a "comprehensive anti-piracy campaign" - an action that officials said has garnered more negative attention for UW-Eau Claire.
In another round of pre-litigation settlement letters to 22 universities nationwide, the RIAA sent 62 letters to six UW System schools, according to a press release.
Three of these letters concern Eau Claire students, said Chip Eckardt, the university's chief information officer.
"(The letters) were referring to occurrences back in April (or May)," Eckardt said, explaining that while Eau Claire complied with a court order in May to release the names of 10 students against whom the RIAA filed lawsuits, the university cannot comply with the new requests because it deletes such network records at the end of the academic year.
"In the dorms, everybody moves out ... and a lot of people sell their computers," he said. "We had no records to go back and say who was the owner of those IPs .… Even if we had the records from then, I don't know how accurate they would have been."
Although no Eau Claire students were among the 24 students nationwide against whom the RIAA filed new lawsuits, the association said it will continue pursuing the issue on all college campuses.
"The music industry continues to develop exciting new digital models that offer fans, including college students, their favorite music how they want it and where they want it," said Steven Marks, executive vice president and general counsel for the RIAA, in the release.
The release stated individuals who download music illegally could face up to thousands of dollars in fines. "With so many simple, easy and inexpensive ways to enjoy music legally theses days, there's no excuse - don't risk it, pay for it," Marks said
Eau Claire received 473 notices from the RIAA during the 2006-2007 academic year - up from 199 in 2005-2006, according to the association's Top 25 schools with the most complaints, published Feb. 21.
During the 2001-2002 academic year, the RIAA sent Eau Claire about 15 notices and eight between April 1999 and January 2001, according to articles in The Spectator from 2003 and 2001 respectively.
In another round of pre-litigation settlement letters to 22 universities nationwide, the RIAA sent 62 letters to six UW System schools, according to a press release.
Three of these letters concern Eau Claire students, said Chip Eckardt, the university's chief information officer.
"(The letters) were referring to occurrences back in April (or May)," Eckardt said, explaining that while Eau Claire complied with a court order in May to release the names of 10 students against whom the RIAA filed lawsuits, the university cannot comply with the new requests because it deletes such network records at the end of the academic year.
"In the dorms, everybody moves out ... and a lot of people sell their computers," he said. "We had no records to go back and say who was the owner of those IPs .… Even if we had the records from then, I don't know how accurate they would have been."
Although no Eau Claire students were among the 24 students nationwide against whom the RIAA filed new lawsuits, the association said it will continue pursuing the issue on all college campuses.
"The music industry continues to develop exciting new digital models that offer fans, including college students, their favorite music how they want it and where they want it," said Steven Marks, executive vice president and general counsel for the RIAA, in the release.
The release stated individuals who download music illegally could face up to thousands of dollars in fines. "With so many simple, easy and inexpensive ways to enjoy music legally theses days, there's no excuse - don't risk it, pay for it," Marks said
Eau Claire received 473 notices from the RIAA during the 2006-2007 academic year - up from 199 in 2005-2006, according to the association's Top 25 schools with the most complaints, published Feb. 21.
During the 2001-2002 academic year, the RIAA sent Eau Claire about 15 notices and eight between April 1999 and January 2001, according to articles in The Spectator from 2003 and 2001 respectively.
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